Flywheel Ring Gear Bad 16HP Vanguard Briggs

Tim-1

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Neighbor's late 90's Landlord (engine model 303777-1111-A1) starter not working properly. Removed the shroud and the ring gear is all chewed up. The ring gear and starter teeth are metal. The Briggs flywheel is 808766, but no replacement ring gear was mentioned at the parts site. New flywheels do not appear to be available. The starter teeth appears to be in good condition, and starter bolts are tight. Not sure how the whole ring gear got worn down. He has only owned the mower for 4 months. Is the only solution is to find a used flywheel with good ring gear teeth, because the existing ring gear is non-removable?
 

Bertrrr

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Yeah I think the flywheel and ring gear are together - Look at Amazon and / or Ebay for a used flywheel or replacement for that model , short of that it would be someone who works on these and has some old parts /engines laying around. Odd that it is only 4 months old and the starter teeth are still in good shape- Maybe they were mis matched from the get go ?
 

StarTech

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Welcome to the new brave world of Briggs not supporting their equpment. This what we get when a financial investment company takes over an equipment OEM.
 

Tim-1

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The flywheel nut needs a 30 mm socket and I have confirmed that. Can anyone tell me what the thread size is for the two holes used to pull the flywheel? It looks like fine thread, but not sure if the thread diameter is 5/16 or 8mm & pitch? I have tried 5/16 in coarse and fine along with the metric size, but none wanted to easily start. The engine is over 20 years old, so I can expect the threads might be filled with some crud, I just do not want to clean with a tap without knowing the correct size.
 

Tim-1

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I now see that Briggs says the correct puller is #19203, but it comes with 2 sets of bolts. Online comments say they are SAE and metric, but no clear info on how to determine what size applies to what flywheel.
 

Bertrrr

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Back the nut off to where it's even with the flywheel Shaft, put pressure on 2 points 180 degrees apart and pop the top of the nut/ shaft with a good ball pene hammer and it's going to pop off. No puller necessary , I've taken off so many like this I loose count
 

Tim-1

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Got flywheel off by using a puller that worked with 5/16-18 bolts. Did not have clear places to use prybars. Neighbor will now take flywheel to local shop for either new ring gear or used flywheel. Bad ring gear is aluminum.
 

mechanic mark

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See page 35 in parts manual above, item 23 & 726, steel ring gear original part.
 
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Forest#2

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You say:
Neighbor will now take flywheel to local shop for either new ring gear or used flywheel. Bad ring gear is aluminum.

AND you say the starter Bendix gear teeth are metal.
Some Bubba did not get them matched up correctly.
 
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