flex plate spacer removal

[4g63awdtalon]

I am tring to remove the flex plate spacer from the crankshaft. I do not have the right size puller to remove it so i am looking for tips or tricks of removing it.
Thanks joe

[Sbeing1]

flexplate spacer? You mean the thing behind the flexplate?

[wolf20043]

If you are talking about the spacer ring in the crankshaft, I used a lot of heat and a rubber mallet till it was loose enough for me to grab it with a pipe wrench.
Mike

[Flash]

I got down to my spacer tonight. Some A/T to M/T tech articles on this forum never discussed this spacer, so it was a pleasant surprise.
I will try your tip Mike see how it works.
Here's a picture for reference.

[Burnett03]

I had a HELL of a time removing this.. Let me say that once again, a HELL ofa time!!! Slide hammer wouldnt work, prybar wouldnt work, heat wouldnt work.. The old pack a socket with grease didnt work.. We finally chiseled the bitch out with a hammer, drill and chissel.

[Flash]

Tell me about it. I have tried using my air hammer on it for the past 2 hours and I'm getting down there but it is giving me hell. The air hammer can make it spin freely, but it won't come out yet.

[95 gsx]

Wow. I was able to pull mine out by hand.

[Flash]

#### You! Mine is such a PITA.
Burnett, your welcome to come over and help remove mine.

[95 gsx]

Here's a crazy idea: Pack the center of the bushing with dry ice. Once is gets cold enough and shrinks, it should slide out. Will it work? Maybe. Or, you could cut it out as stated previously.

[1gcrazy]

I didn't even know we HAD those... is that only a 2g thing? Or an Automatic thing? Do we need it? Where can we get it? I wouldn't think we would NEED one of those right? ...wow...

[95 gsx]

It's an automatic thing and it keeps the crank and flexplate concentric.

[RoasT BeeF]

Originally Posted by 1gcrazy

Where can we get it?

You can have Grant's after we take it out. It might be in peices... but you can have it. Hell I will even pay to ship the ####er. Just as long as I never have to see it again.

[Flash]

I spent some time tonight trying to get the flexplate spacer out. It took about 30 minutes—the poor spacer got the worse end of the stick.
Tuesday, we tried to really hammer it hard with the air hammer and a flat-headed air chisel- we cut slots in it.
Tonight I tried a different way to cut it with a weird bit I had for my Dremel. And I finished removing the spacer by using the air hammer very lightly. I used a 'needle' chisel in my air hammer and stuck it in the slots I chiseled out Tuesday. I then lightly applied the hammer and kind of pulled and spun it at the same time. Eventually, there was enough space to grab it firmly with vise grips and pull it out. You had to pull a little, then move the vise grips to the other side and pull more and move the vise grips. This way so the spacer pulled out evenly and nicely and didn’t get stuck.

[RoasT BeeF]

Aight lets ship it out...

1gcrazy???

[1gcrazy]

Originally Posted by RoasT BeeF

Aight lets ship it out...

1gcrazy???

Pm me for an address, I'll weld it to my 1g rod for DSM abstract...


I thinking there's a market for this....

[Flash]

I'm keeping the spacer, it is something small from my swap and has a story behind it.

Anyway, I wanted to put down for reference to who ever reads this thread in the future looking for help. When cutting, there is a way to know when you get down to the crank and your no longer cutting the spacer. The spacer is a fairly soft metal believe it or not. When you grind down there you can feel a slight difference. The metal isn't soft like aluminum, but you'll be grinding and then all of a sudden you'll just feel it.

[4g63awdtalon]

I ended up tac welding a hook to it and used a slide hammer. It took about 4-5 wacks and came out.

[TurboAnything]

Ok i know you already got it out but i will explain. I posted this years ago i don't know where it went. All you have to do is wet some toilet tissue start filling the hole in the crank. Then when you get it half filled you take a socket that fits the hole in the spacer. Turn the socket over so the flat side is going towards the crank then stick a extension in the socket backwards now you have a large punch start hitting it compressing the wet tissue paper add more as needed you will see the spacer start to move. Keep going and it will come all the way out. There you go the miracle i learned form a old engine builder pass it on.

[94nonturboGS]

I have a motor that i got for a great price and it came out of a 91 talon tsi i believe. It's a 6 bolt and the previous owner had a 5 speed FWD transmission mounted up to it. Here's my issue, I'm trying to put on my AWD flywheel but it will not mount up, there is some sort of spacer right in the middle of the crank that doesn't allow it to sit flat on the crankshaft. I was told that i needed to remove that spacer, how do i go about doing that?
Here's a picture of the crank

[Hubbell91Tsi]

my engine came out of a 91 fwd and now it has a awd flywheel on it and i changed nothing... so im kind of confused about this.

[donniekak]

That is a ring that is put in the crank of cars with an auto transmission. I take them out with vicegrips.

[94nonturboGS]

the previous owner had a fwd fidanza flywheel bolted up to there originally (which i have read do not need the spacer plate?) So your saying with enough love and care it will come out? I tried turning it a little bit before but not much becasue i didn't want to damage it. And also when i turned it before the crank turned too, so i'll have to jam that somehow

[RoasT BeeF]

That is a flex plate spacer. They are a PITA to remove. If you have an air compressor, I would recommend an air hammer. Dont worry about damaging it. You don't need it. Unless you plan to run an automatic transmission.

[94nonturboGS]

well i guess the big thing i would be worried about would be damaging the crank

[RoasT BeeF]

I helped my buddy remove his a couple years ago. Here is the thread. He talks about what tools we used to get it out, and it has pics.

[94nonturboGS]

I'll give that a shot and we will see what happens!

[rbwtrans]

Originally Posted by 1gcrazy

I didn't even know we HAD those... is that only a 2g thing? Or an Automatic thing? Do we need it? Where can we get it? I wouldn't think we would NEED one of those right? ...wow...

Just for a little more info..the n/a is different than the turbo. The turbo # is MD732972. The spacer holds the torque convertor centered to keep from beating the bushing out of your front pump.

I had to knock out an n/a spacer and buy the new one about a month ago. (I used an n/a crank to build my new engine)

[210 dsm]

For anybody tackling this job in the future, The toilet paper trick works great. Its amazing how quick it actually works. Thanks To turboanything

[mustard95tsi]

Has anybody used any other methods to remove this spacer? I'm having trouble with the toilet paper trick or using vice grips.

I'm guessing I may have to use the air compressor and air hammer?

[bryanwheat]

Originally Posted by mustard95tsi

Has anybody used any other methods to remove this spacer? I'm having trouble with the toilet paper trick or using vice grips.

I'm guessing I may have to use the air compressor and air hammer?

I just use a good pair of vice grips. Attach them to one side and tap it with a hammer, switch to the other side and repeat until it is out. It usually takes about 5 minutes to do.