lbell101

Now that the front end is done, I'm going to work my way back under the car. I'm doing the mid section next. this will be just clean up, driveshaft balancing and side exhaust. Not too daunting.
But while I'm in the area I'm thinking about the ring gear. Every 30-40 times I start the car, the gears don't mesh and I have to try a few times before the grind stops and the cranking starts again. I haven't even looked at this yet but I'm assuming this is caused by a bad spot on the ring gear. Of course we all know what a pain it is to replace them. So my question is, is there any cure short of tearing the tranny out? How about starter shims, ring gear welding and filing, or a new starter gear?

redvetracr

Larry,
i suggest you pull the starter and take it to an electrical parts rebuilder, it may just be a bad solenoid (easy fix,cheap too) ...redvetracr

Gary79

by ring gear, i take it you are talking about your flywheel engaging the bendix on your starter or actually the bendix on the starter engaging the flywheel teeth. i think i would start by correctly shimming the starter. an easy way to do this on chevys is to use an 1/8" allen wrench as a spacer between the flywheel teeth and the bendix gear teeth and then shim accordingly.if this doesn't work,it could be a solenoid problem or perhaps the spring on the bendix is not "throwing" the gear for proper engagement with the flywheel teeth.

xrated

I had to replace my ring gear. Tranny out job. There was no way i could get it to start smoothly with the factory starter. Shims didnt work at all. Went to a gear reduction starter motor..better but not best. The ring gear would hit the starter cog making a huge clangin noise under load. Next step pull the tranny. Change the ring gear. And since the tranny was out..throw in a high stall and shift kit.

lbell101

Thanks for the replys guys!
Yep - that's what i mean by "ring gear". That's always what I've heard it called but then everyone here (including me) calls carbonated beverages "pop" too - LOL.
Sounds like there is hope that it's not worn out teeth but rather shimming or bendix operation. That's cool! I really don't feel like pulling that tranny. You guys are right, might as well start with the starter and go from there!
Thanks!