Shops seem useless these days and it reinforces my desire to do everything myself. Example--I am rebuilding a 722.3 transmission in my roommate's car and did the rear crank seal while I was at it. I noticed that the flywheel ring gear was chewed up. We're doing this on a budget, so I decided to just flip around the ring gear and use the good side.

Most auto parts stores have closed their machine shops. The Carquest still had one open. So I brought the flywheel there and asked for them to flip the ring gear around so the good side was facing the starter. The looked at me like I was talking crazy and they said they can't do anything like that. They told me that there is no way to remove the ring gear without damaging it. I asked them if they recycled used oil, and they said no.

So I thanked them and went to the O'Reilly Auto to drop off the used oil. I noticed on their windows that they advertised turning rotors. So I asked if they could flip around the ring gear. They said no, but that any transmission shop would be able to do it.

So I went to a transmission shop that claims they can rebuild a 722.3 with their eyes closed. The owner said no at first, but then said he would show the flywheel to his Builder to see if he could do it. The owner came back and said that there was no way to remove the ring gear without damaging it because hitting it with a sledge would damage the teeth.

He said it would be better to replace the entire flywheel with a new one than mess with replacing the ring gear. I couldn't believe he said that! I told him that each flywheel is balanced to the engine and I would have to have a replacement one match balanced with the old one and then that would be more hassle than it was worth.

So while I was there I asked him how much it would cost to flush out the torque converter. He told me that they can't flush torque converters and send everything torque-converter related to a shop downtown--but the shop could only rebuild, not flush them. Whatever.

So I went to the hardware store and bought a MAPP gas torch. I heated up the ring gear, tapped it with a punch, and it fell right off. Then I put the flywheel in the freezer, put the ring gear in the oven at 400 degrees, then dropped the ring gear onto the flywheel. It was sloppy and loose on the flywheel until the ring gear cooled down. It was really that easy and yet no professional shop seemed capable. Wow.

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1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Highly Optioned, 350,000+ Miles