54 chevy flywheel question

OK, I have a 54 chevy with the old torktube setup. I need to replace the flywheel due to a bad spot. Not broken teeth on the wheel just teeth missing about .200 thou. No looking under the car I would have to loosen my rearend and move the whole thing back or pull out the motor in order to remove the trans. I took the starter to a place here in Austin, but they said they could not shim it any further. Shouldn't the starter be engaging more than just a couple hundred thou?

Question: Is it posible to weld in what is missing on the flywheel and then smooth out the teeth? This is an option given to me by a fellow hamber, but I am not sure this is possible.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

You might be able to flip the ring gear over ? Once you remove the flywheel of course.

 

Also, you don't have to loosen the rear end and move it back, like with a pre-'49 Ford. The torque ball that bolts to the rear of the transmission slides back on the torque tube enough to allow trans removal.

 

Even loosening the torque ball and sliding it back will not help. I can't drop the drive shaft because the ujoint hits the trans mount. If I lift the shaft it still does not go up far enough to pull the trans back far enough to remove. It's looking like the best way is just to pull the entire engine and trans whole and then replace flywheel and re-install.

I wish I had an open drive line. This ****s

 

I replaced the trans on my 54 without much problem. You really have to finangle the trans to get it out, but it is do-able. It helps if you have access to a hoist though..
Todd

 

I did it on two of my '53s as well. There's not a lot of room to spare, but it's doable. You do know that the transmission hump unscrews from the floorpan, right?

 

Actually, there's a teeny notch in the trans x-member that allows the u-joint to drop down if it's rotated the right way. I feel for you, man. Wrestling that ****** out is no fun. Replacing the clutch in these things is a *****. I think if I needed to do it again, I'd just yank the motor instead.

 

Once you get it off, what about knocking off the welds and rotating it a partial turn? Usually the teeth really dig in every 1/4 turn. I've got a flywheel and a flexplate that are extra if you want to practice...

 

its a pain in the ***. if you do decide to slide the rear back, source new u-bolts, just in case.