Ring Gear Inspection: How to rotate the engine?

[Wildchild467]

The starter drive in my deuce needed a starter drive since i got it. once and a while it would grind, so i had it rebuilt and everything looks good. My question is, how can i rotate the engine without the starter to inspect the ring gear? I know i could put it in gear and slowly crank the engine, but i dont want to start it. the nut on the crank dosnt look like i can get to it easily. it would be nice to pull the engine stop handle and crank it over with the ring gear tool like i have for a Small Block Chevy, but we all know we cant do that. My plan is i somehow turn the engine over real slow a couple degrees at a time because of the high compresssion and have my dad look through the starter hole to make sure everything is ok with the ring gear. so how do i do that? thanks!

 

[clinto]

MAKE ABSOLUTE SURE THE ENGINE STOP CABLE IS OUT and the transfercase is in neutral, BEFORE FOLLOWING THE FOLLOWING ADVICE!

Put tranny in gear, insert long prybar into jackshaft running from tranny to transfer, slowly turn over. Voila.

 

[WillWagner]

Or, you can turn it from the air compressor pulley. If the belt slips, put a bit of pressure on the belt with your hand. It works fine.

 

[Jake0147]

It doesn't take a lot to turn the engine over. Just go slowly. Piston rings aren't a perfect seal. Lots of compression at cranking and running speeds, but one tooth at a time at the flywheel, it'll roll right over.

Grab the engine fan, turn it slow. I'm sure the compressor mentioned above will work just as well. Use the bolt on the balancer. Put the transfer case in neutral, transmission in high, and turn the intermediate driveshaft with a bar. Stick a prybar in the starter hole and move the teeth along.
There's as many ways as you can think of, the trick is to slow down and let compressed air have time to escape through the ring gap.

 

[doghead]

You could also remove the injectors, or loosen them all, to help ease the cranking.

 

[mckeeranger]

MAKE ABSOLUTE SURE THE ENGINE STOP CABLE IS OUT and the transfercase is in neutral, BEFORE FOLLOWING THE FOLLOWING ADVICE!

Just because it's worth repeating over and over.

 

[Wildchild467]

Well i checked out the ring gear when i had the starter out and it all looked good. the starter drive was whooped. new starter drive and new starter solenoid and it looks good. the guy that rebuilt it is a real old guy that really knows his stuff, so i trust him there, but there is still a problem. once and a while it seems to be still grinding a little bit, like it spins fine (or seems to) but the solenoid does not engage it enough into the ring gear. My question is: could the stater relay cause such a problem? say the contacts are dirty and not alowing the full 24 volts to the starter and not kicking the starter drive in like it should? I took the relay apart, sanded the contacts and cleaned them up real nice, but it still does it. I ordered a 24VDC starter solenoid (item 11-3196) from surpluscenter.com and thought i would put that on. it says its built to rugged mil specs. I figure it was cheap enough to buy and ill put it on anyway because i hate to have the other one go bad (cheap insurance). so back to my original question, could the relay cause such a problem?

 

[doghead]

When removing and replacing the starter solenoid, you need to properly adjust the throw of the Bendix.

There are two starter TMs(one for either manufacturer) in the TM section. TM9-2920-243-34 and TM9-292-248-35

Read them and follow the set up directions for the Solenoid, to be sure you are getting full Bendix gear engagement.