I trashed the flexplate.

A little over a week ago I mentioned that I lost a starter bolt. Well after replacing it all seemed fine for a day. Then every so often the starter was making a strange noise. It was getting worse but I was hoping it would hold up till the weekend. Well Friday after work I stopped at the 7-11 before going home and sure enough it wouldn't engage. I was pretty sure I lost a section of the ring gear. Just 2 miles from home. I finally got to use AAA that we've been paying for all these years. Today I took a pry bar and turned the motor over a little by the fan pulley. Sure enough the starter engaged the ring and turned her over till it got to the bad part. A few more tries and she finally fired. Got the truck into my back yard and will be removing the tranny and transfer case hopefully next weekend. At least now I can replace the rear seal on the transfer case that has been leaking since I got it. I just got an NOS flexplate off of eBay last night. Just $40. I hope it's a GM unit because they are going for around $200. Aftermarket's are going for what I paid for this one. As a side note. These 24volt starters are still available from GM. List price is over $700 GM Parts Direct sells them for around $440. I have yet to see a rebuild that holds up. I'm thinking of putting one of the new gear reduction Taiwan starters in. They are going for just a few dollars more then rebuilding the old one.

Jerry, make sure you have the support strap on the 'back' end of the starter. Also, you dont need to totally remove the tranny and tcase. get a couple of real long bolts to replace a couple bell housing bolts with. You can slide the tranny back on them, keeping it lined up.

The rear T-case seal is a quick job with the rear drive shaft removed...

Hope everything works out for the best, good luck with your project