The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk flywheel crack

My 1960 apache, 235 ci, is in a transmission shop. They rebuilt the 3 speed standard about a month ago, but it developed oil leaks so they had to pull it again. The new clutch and pressure plate they installed would occasionally exibit a little chatter when engaging but otherwise worked well. The flywheel was resurfaced when the clutch was replaced. The shop now tells me ( I have not yet been down to inspect it) that the flywheel has some hairline cracks. I have never heard of a flywheel cracking and can find no history of such on the chevy forum. I would have expected the cracks would have been noticed when the flywheel was resurfaced last month.
If I have to replace the FW, is a good one difficult to find? Expected cost? What do I need to look for visually to be sure I am looking at the correct FW?
meansam

Flywheels and pressure plates can get hairline heat stress cracks if you are really hard on them (lots of slippage).

I too think it would have been noticed last month before and after it was surfaced. Unless you slip the clutch lots it should not happen in a month. Do you sit at a stop light on a hill holding position with the clutch and not use the brakes?

Unless the cracks were extremely bad, enough to make you think it was unsafe to reuse, I would not expect the minor surface cracks to cause chatter. Sometimes new clutches will chatter some until they have time to seat in. Often this chattering can be avoided by driving / clutching style, and then before you know it, no chatter even if you try.

Lets see some pictures of this flywheel.

Grigg

Fine surface cracks are alright, as long as the flywheel can still be resurfaced and you just can't find a newer one.

meansam,

I know this wasn't the the question, but my thought would be to patronize a different transmission shop for any future work.


Stuart

Or just do the work yourself, as much as you can or want to learn.
Getting harder to find pro mechanics with good knowledge and experience of the old iron.

Many standard transmission flywheels develop surface cracks. They are usually microscopic in size and not a problem. A light surface grinding or machining a slight cut over the surface will correct the condition. Don't worry about it, flywheels on our old 6 cylinder engines are bulletproof, maybe because the engines won't turn enough RPM's to cause any problems.