There is little room to swing a big lever on the ring gear. I think what I'll do is drop the pan and look for broken metal and then if I can reach the con rods I'll try to wiggle them to see if one is broken. I presume that if all are good there would be very little play on them. I am not at the point where I want to pull the main caps.
Sadly this whole exercise is being done for a neighbor who thought he knew everything and would not listen to experience even though he asked for help.
