Ok, so I did a search and I came up with this...

1) The flywheel nut is 52mm

2) The flywheel nut is 54mm

3) 2 1/8" works too

Now, my question is, is it the 54 or 52? or is that different between the 12A and 13B? Also, Where can I find a socket that size, and should i just use the 2 1/8"? Will that mess up the nut at all?

Thanks for the help!

 

2 1/8 is easier to get, and it works fine.

its 52mm btw.

 

Thanks! Now tomorrow I can kick some flywheel ***!

 

Is it 54mm for a gsl-se then? or still 52mm

 

It's 54mm. For all rotaries.

2.125 * 25.4 = 53.975.

Finally got my dead 13B apart. Kept bending my angle-iron flywheel brakes. The solution was to use the socket/breaker bar/jackhandle as the brake, bolt TWO angle-iron flywheel brakes (one 6' one 4') to the flywheel, have my frond haul down on the 6' while I hauled up on the 4' while standing on the engine.

SOMEONE (ahem DJCHunter) tightened the flywheel nut down with a 1" impact gun. Normally it's not that difficult to remove the flywheel nut. A 1/2" impact will zip it right off. If you lack such tools you make a flywheel brake made from 6'x2"x1/8" and two holes drilled in one end to coincide with two pressure plate bolt holes. Then you take your Craftsman $22 2 1/8" socket, your Craftsman $20 3/4" breaker bar, and a handy 4'-ish long cheater bar (jack handle works nice) and it just pops off.

Removing the flywheel is another matter. Are you disassembling the engine or just changing the flywheel?

 

I'm taking over this thread. I'm disassembling the engine.

 

Goody. If you are removing the flywheel with intent to disassemble...

When we last left our mechanical hero, he was standing over his engine, flywheel brake bolted to flywheel, flywheel nut triumphantly loosened. We now need to remove the flywheel from its taper fit (somewhere a Japanese engineer is laughing his *** off at us... "Ha ha, I made it with a taper fit so you must all now suffer!")

We also have another problem. The front pulley bolt is typically rusted in place and usually incredibly tight. With the flywheel nut loose (IMPORTANT) and the flywheel brake still bolted on, attempt to crack the front bulley bolt loose. I broke a 4-way lugwrench trying to do this on one engine. It can be a bitch. But this is kind of a good thing... it puts stress on the taper fit between the e-shaft and the now-loosened flywheel. After the bolt cracks loose, DO NOT REMOVE IT ANY MORE THAN IT HAS CRACKED LOOSE. You do not want to remove the bolt yet to any degree, lest the thrust bearings bet messed up. Snug the bolt gently so it doesn't move, but you will still be able to remove it.

Now, go back to the flywheel. The idea is to hit the outer edge of the flywheel face (like where the pressure plate bolts on) with a soft faced BFH. My Snap-On 3lb rubber-faced deadblow (lead shot) hammer worked admirably, but anything big and soft faced will work. You do not want to hit the flywheel with a hard-faced hammer if you plan on reusing it. How many hits does it take to get to the eccentric shaft center of a rotary.... one... two... three... *POP*. Three.

Trying to remove the front pulley bolt with the flywheel loose and holding the engine still with the flywheel brake, makes removal of that flywheel much much much much much easier. But if you are not disassembling the engine, don't mess with the front pulley bolt, since it is still risky to accidentally muck up the thrust bearings if you loosen the bolt too much and the e-shaft slides back.