FlexPlate or Starter Issue

[arhame]

I ordered a new flexplate from Napa and manged to get the original one off last night.

They look EXACTLY the same. (Except for the fact that the original has the teeth ground down a bit).

There was a washer/plate that was on the flexplate when I removed it (between the bolds and the flexplate). Was this the correct location for the plate, or, perhaps, was this something that was supposed to go between the flexplate and crank?

This is my first go at an AMC V8, so I'm a little inexperienced at this.

I'm at a loss at what to check for next. Anymore ideas?

[tufcj]

The small plate stays on the bolt side. It keeps the bolts from digging into the flexplate and creating places for stress cracks to form.

The flexplate diameter/tooth count should all be the same from 73 to the late 80s (88?), when Jeep went from the Ford style starter to the Mitsu high torque. Of course they did change depending on the trans used.

Bob
tufcj

[Mudrat]

Interesting, I have 2 flex plates that came from a 360 -one came with the 727 Auto & and neither look like that one

[mwouda]

I had the same problems with my '78 304 CJ7. Went through 3 starters, always had to shim way out. Finally got a new flexplate and mean green stater and no more grinding. I also could not notice any difference between old and new flexpates, but replacing worked. Good luck. I know how frustrating that is

[jeepsr4ever]

If your against a wall let me know! We have access to the correct flexplates. The ATI or ATR or ATF flexplates are cheap chinese knockoffs and dont fit..their flwheels are even worse. Pioneer makes the matched flexplate for the AMC V8.

[FuzzFace2]

Interesting, I have 2 flex plates that came from a 360 -one came with the 727 Auto & and neither look like that one

What was the other trany?
That is a TH400 flex. If you lok at it you can see the 3 spokes that are the weak part of the TH400 flex. That is why some drill the TF flex for use with a TH converter.
Dave ----

[arhame]

Hello, and thanks for all the replies.

I'm installing everything back in right now. Hopefully I'll let everyone know what the outcome is here within a few hours, or tomorrow morning sometime.

Aubrey

[arhame]

I apologize for not responding back to this thread to let everyone know the outcome.

I originally had used a pioneer plate, and had issues with it.

Not wanting to take the chance on having to take EVERYTHING back out again, I found a transmission shop that happened to have a new old stock one on the wall, (looked like it had been there for many a year).

I took the plate home, and upon further inspection, it appears as if the original flexplate that was put on the motor after the rebuild, had the ring welded on at a slight angle; therefore, it would go back and forth from being too tight, to a lesser tightness.

Needless to say, the new flexplate works. It's still a little on the loud side, but MANY times better than before.

December became very chaotic with work, so I didn't have much time to continue working on the jeep.

I'm back on track now, trying to finish things up. It's getting close............

I'll keep the stories continued in the jeep forum.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions....

[GoCommando]

Guys, NEED some help here... stymied..... I got a '73 Commando I race off road which had a 304 with thick cast factory adapter plate to a TH400. The 304 was using to much oil in our last race so we swapped in a 360 from a donor '78 wagoneer (quadratrac). here's the problem..... the 360 flywheel is "dished" in comparison to the 304 which is basically flat. At first glace, we decided it would work, because the flywheel teeth were in the same location as the 304's due to crank thickness differences of the 2 motors; we were right on that. however, due to the dish of the 360 flywheel & crank thinness of the 360 compared to 304, when bolting the same torque converter to it, it pulls the converter too far forward out of the tranny to engage the transmission oil pump, hence no action when pulling the tranny into gear (and no trans oil being pumped at the cooler lines). so... what the hell do we need? a different flywheel? a different converter? The crank thicknesses on the back of the block are considerably different, which the dish of the flywheel makes up for fine in terms of the flywheel teeth. we've though about spacing the converter back with the mounting bolts on the flywheel, but then the center "hub" of the converter won't sit in the center opening of the crank (not sure how critical this is, it doesn't seem like a good idea to us). This is a pretty desperate situation as our next race is in 2 weeks and we've been busy working on other mods for this racecar, unknowing of this problem lurking until last night when we went to go for our first test run. tearing it down tonight, we found this problem and are pretty stuck. FYI. i've found a '71-'73 auto 360 flywheel on one warehouse we're thinking about going with as a shot (hoping the dish is different and/or non-existent) here's the link to that flywheel. we can find no different TH400 converters which sound to foot the bill, the flywheel is at bulkpart

-We don't wish to use the wagoneer transmission -which was an original thought of ours, but found the tailshafts are different and the '78 TH400 won't fit our Dana20 Transfer case and we'd rather watch the race than race a quadratrac t-case.

---NOTE, I'm new to AMC, I think the Wag Tranny is a TH400, I'm a chevy guy at heart, I hear other terms (999, 727), i'd bet my ass it's a th400 though, some aficionado may know better.


------
'73 Jeep commando
AMC 360 | TH400 |Dana 20
Rear coolant system 4 row rad.
Front Shackle Reversal, Spring over Conv. Front & Rear.
Front Axle: Wagoneer front Dana44 with 4.88 IH Scout Trac Loc carrier, Wagoneer disc brakes, IH Scout axle shafts, CJ-7 Spindles/Hubs Drive Plates
Rear Axle: IH Scout Dana44 with 4.88 W/welded spiders
P78 Bias Buckshot mudders

[jeepsr4ever]

Yes thats right the th400 with the adaptor ring takes a unique flexplate that is not made anymore. You may be able to use one of Advanced Adaptors flexplates as they have a different depth to the plate. You could also swap the mainshaft to a 74-79 th400 with the true AMC bolt pattern.