looks to me like your ring gear is coming off of the flywheel which is not uncommon ............... press it back on and tack weld it to flywheel
Tapped back hard against edge of flywheel it stuck out a fair bit on one edge- how were these fastened normally?
Is that the gap we're seeing at the bottom of the ring gear between it and the flywheel? That could have gotten ugly, couldn't it? Good call, Carl! This is why we LOVE pictures on the HAMB.
Well a favour came in and some tig welds later the ring gear shouldn't budge. Saying this- how much should one expect the crank to move back and fourth? It's not a new Motor and I know nothing on the history. Any advice? Bolting pan back on and going over it all tonight
Ideally, probably something like .003" to .010". And there's probably a lot of these engines running around fat and happy with more than that. Not sure how they control crank end-play in these engines. Do these have insert bearings on the mains?
You might have a bit more end-play than optimal, since you initially heard the s****ing noise when depressing the clutch (which shoves the crank and flywheel forward). But I bet it's not worth tearing an otherwise good-running engine down for.