I have a Case 580SE with a worn out starter flywheel. I ordered a new ring gear, being told by Case that you need to remove the outer toothed ring gear from the inner flwheel plate using heat and a press. Does anyone here have any info. Or advice on how this is done?
I usually drill a hole in the ring gear in one place then split the bit of the gear that's still holding after drilling with a chisel. That will open up a crack in the ring gear and you will be able to drive it off easily with a hammer & a drift. The diameter of the drill bit will be slightly less than the thickness of the ring gear. Imagine you are looking at the flywheel lying on a bench with the side of the flywheel that faces the engine facing the bench - drill a hole vertically downwards in the ring gear, it doesn't matter if you catch the flywheel a tad while you're doing it. I have no idea how big your ring gear is but I would imagine you will probably need maybe about a 1/2" drill bit, possibly a bit larger. You could always drill a smaller pilot hole first. I wouldn't be using either heat or a press to get the old one off. Heat the new ring gear up EVENLY using a gas axe and drop it over the flywheel - making sure that if the teeth have any sort of taper on them that means the ring gear can only go on one way they are facing the correct way before you install it, because if you need to get it off again you will likely end up having to break it. Don't ask me how I know this .....
So, the heat expances the ring, then, after placing it on the flywheel, the cooling effect secures it, and your on your way?
Make sure the flywheel is nice and clean after removing the old gear then lay the new gear in position over top of the flywheel and heat it up evenly with a torch trying to keep the heat mostly on the gear to avoid heating up the flywheel and it will literally fall into place. Don't worry about getting the gear a bit red with the heat, it won't hurt it.
Thank you Nige, will try it this weekend.
I assume that the flywheel is OFF the engine, right ..? Don't go trying the procedure with the flywheel still installed FFS.
Yes Flywheel is removed
There are a quite a few videos on YouTube showing flywheel ring gears being replaced. Type Flywheel Ring Gear in the You Tube search box.
When you drop the ring gear make sure that the flywheel is on a flat surface and don't really drop it, the ring gear will bounce and may freeze out of position. have heavy gloves and drop and hold it down so it doesn't bounce.