MTFCA Forum

A model T engine usually stop running with the flywheel in 1 of 2 places about 180 degrees apart thereby your starter engages the ring gear about the same place every time you start. If you have damaged ring-gear teeth, to repair them you have to tear down the engine and transmission to exchange the ring gear. As a short term fix could you just turn the crank a quarter turn and then engage the starter until time warranted a major tear down? Has anyone done this?

If you mean to simply reposition the engine by hand to engage the starter, then yes that would work to keep bendix engagement on "healthy" teeth. If the teeth are too damaged, though, you'll still have trouble.

The crank should always work though!

"Starter fing gear"??
Is that like, the starter is giving you the finger ??
Sorry I couldn't help myself.

I was going to say by that title it sounds like the ring gear is giving someone trouble!

I've heard it may be possible to move the ring gear 1 set of holes, so the bendix has a new place to bite, but since I neither have one of those battery-equipped improved cars, nor do I run those new fangled whiz-bang electric gizmos on a car, I don't have one to go look at right now. It might be hard (or impossible) to access the backside of the starter ring gear bolt in the car to do this, but I'd look at seeing if it's a possibility.

Of course, if you have to get out and crank the car to move the engine anyway...

You can definitely rotate the ring gear:

remove engine
pull pan
remove transmission
remove brass magnet screws
rotate damaged ring gear
reinstall new brass magnet screws and reset magnets
reinstall transmission several times while you regap magneto
reinstall pan
reinstall engine into car
now you have a car with a damaged ring gear, but at least the damage doesn't always fall under the bendix
easy-peasy

Or, while you're doing all this, spend $45 and put on a new ring gear
Personally, I would never be so poor that I'd rotate a ring gear.
Just because something can be done doesn't mean it's wise to do

Given the huge amount of work that's required to rotate the ring gear, I would defiantly replace it with a new one.

Stephen

Scott_conger wrote: ↑

Sat May 25, 2019 9:10 pm

You can definitely rotate the ring gear:

remove engine
pull pan
remove transmission
remove brass magnet screws
rotate damaged ring gear
reinstall new brass magnet screws and reset magnets
reinstall transmission several times while you regap magneto
reinstall pan
reinstall engine into car
now you have a car with a damaged ring gear, but at least the damage doesn't always fall under the bendix
easy-peasy

Or, while you're doing all this, spend $45 and put on a new ring gear
Personally, I would never be so poor that I'd rotate a ring gear.
Just because something can be done doesn't mean it's wise to do

See, it doesn't seem *that* bad... no problem at all, a 20 minute job, right?

Yeah, one of MY typical "20 minute" jobs. I posted somewhere else about those... one involved putting a file tang through my hand, laying that hand up for a couple weeks while it healed... another started with replacing a sink drain pipe flange gasket, and ended up with 2/3 of the sewer system in our house replaced, a new sink, and 2 new faucets...

What could go wrong with this?

I did have a T in the barn that had the magnets removed and the ring gear was only held by four (or eight) bolts. As the hogs head was off, it was easy to remove the bolts, rotate the ring gear 1/4 turn and reinstall.
So yes it’s possible and has been done. However in the original configuration with 16 brass screws, hardly practical.

I have rotated a ring gear on a later car. It was one on which the ring was pressed on. But on a T, with the amount of work to be done to rotate the ring gear, I would either move the car a short distance by pushing in high gear, or I would do what is much easier turn the starting crank 1/4 turn and then use the starter. Or exclusively start with the hand crank. I would do this until such time as I need to pull the engine for some other more major work on either engine or transmission, and then replace the starter ring at that time.
Norm