toothless flywheel?

i was workin on my fullsize today, and i went to start it up and the starter just spun, i crawled up underneath, and noticed some patches on the flywheel that were missing some teeth. i used a ratchet and turned the engine over manually til there was some teeth for the starter to grab. after i did that the starter would only click and lock to the flywheel, but not spin the motor. im guessing the starter went out today, but what about the flywheel? why are the teeth breaking off? its a 168 tooth flywheel, and i took a 168 tooth flexplate out of the truck when i swapped over the manual tranny.

maybe age..idk but you're prolly best replacing the flywheel...oh wait...from people grinding the starter cuz they cant tell the truck was already running.

just heat a small(like 2 inch) section of the ring gear and it will separate from the flywheel. go to the auto parts store and buy a new one. heat the new one slightly and reinstall on the old flywheel. done in 10 mins. maybe 25 bucks?

sounds like the starter isnt shimmed correctly. and is causing it to bind up thus breaking teethoff and puttin more stress on the starter.

Sounds like what bdydrpd said

yeah if the starter gets a touch off it will shear teeth off quickly.

Edited: 4/18/2006 7:24:55 AM by bdroppeddak

is there a specific way to set it? it came on the motor, when i got the truck, been there for about 40k miles with the new motor, then it started doin this after i did the swap..... didnt touch the starter. oh yea, ive been drivin the truck every day for the last 3 weeks, and it just now is doin this.

in that case it sounds like the flywheel isnt lined up correctly.