AFAIK, all flywheels have replaceable ring gears. They are hardened steel and the flywheel isn't.  I used to take them to a machine shop for replacement, but here is a fancy new flywheel option for you: http://www.foreignautosupply.com/parts-accessories/34-in-line-4-cylinder-vanagon-engine-conversion-flywheel/#.VyvP4vmDGko 

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Jim Felder
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2016 3:17 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Diesel Vanagon Starter ?

RE diesel flywheel teeth coming off... no, all one piece. Gone are they days, as far as I know, that you could restore a flywheel by grinding through the teeth until you could just knock the ring off with a hammer, then put the new ring in the oven and the flywheel in the freezer and then take that leap of no return. Fun!

Jim

On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 5:11 PM Scott <SCOTTDANIEL@turbovans.com> wrote:

> the diesel starter uses a bushing mounted in the nose of the starter 
> itself.
> There should be no movement of this bushing in the starter housing, 
> and the fit of the starter shaft into it is ...'smooth, not sloppy or 
> tight.'
>
> there is a Retainer Ring sort of thing on the shaft forward of the 
> bendix drive gear.
> Covering that ring  is a round part that snaps over the ring under it, 
> that is in a groove in the starter shaft.
> if you wiggle it, it will rock some on top of the ring it's covering.
> ..kinda a snap fit.
> ( when I go to replace a bendix drive gear ...I use an open end wrench 
> over the shaft to tap this retainer thing off the ring. You can see 
> which way it will go. )
>
> havn't had to look at one in a while, but I'd say this 'cover ring'
> thing limits movement of the bendix drive gear toward the flywheel and 
> slight wiggle is normal..
> And I imagine you have a stock diesel flywheel.
>
> in any case...
> 'Usually' whenever there is oddball or unclean engagement of starter 
> to flywheel ..
> if it's not worn out flywheel starter teeth, it's the bendix drive gear.
>
> a bit fidlly to replace ..
> only about 30 bucks from a good starter rebuilder shop ..
> take them your starter to get numbers off it .
> Heck, I got The Perfect bednix drive gear for my 46 year old Mercedes 
> car for $ 27 that way.
> ..and that totally fixed the intermittent failure to engage or stay 
> engaged.
>
> btw....flywheel teeth.
> they don't wear evenly all around the flywheel, since engine 
> compression causes the engine to stop in 4 places more than everywhere else.
> Do rotate your engine through a full turn inspecting those flywheel teeth.
>
> I have long wondered if the ring gear comes off the diesel vanagon 
> flywheel.
> 'traditionally'...like on a 70's era Mercedes for example..
> That gear  is a heated/pressed/and shrunk on ring gear.
> Like a 70 dollar part at a 'real' foreign car parts supply company ( 
> not a FLAPS )
>
> to replace it, heat with a torch ...tap if off..
> heat new one..drop it onto the shoulder if fits on ..let it cool in place.
> Neat.
> One of these days I will try that process with a diesel vanagon 
> flywheel I have, because just rotating that ring 80 degrees or so  on 
> the flywheel with give it fresher teeth for the starter to engage.
>
> hope ya followed al that !~
> S.
>
>
> On 05/05/2016 02:52 AM, Don Hanson wrote:
> >    I have an 84 van with an inline gas motor and the diesel style 50
> > degree mounting set up.   The transmission is currently out.  I have
> > had this strange "squelching" sound when I start the vehicle...not 
> > every time but frequently. Been doing this now for a few years and 
> > perhaps 40k miles...There is no problem starting, the starter seems 
> > to behave normally, other than the weird sound as the gear retracts, 
> > I guess.
> >
> >    On this diesel starter,  there is a small bearing or bushing
> > sharing the shaft with the starter gear.   It is about 5mm  wide, with
> > a shallow groove around the circumference and is slightly loose on
> > that shaft.   It seems to be meant to slide back and forth slightly on
> > that shaft, perhaps to keep the gear from being extended too far into
> > the flywheel teeth?   I can 'wiggle' this bushing slightly with my
> > fingers....It seems like this could be the source of the weird sound 
> > that sometimes comes when I release my starter switch....kinda 
> > sounds like when you trap a ping pong ball (do people still play 
> > ping pong?) under the paddle against the table....
> >
> >   Does anyone have anything to advise about this?  Is that bushing 
> > (sorry for the imprecise terminology) supposed to wiggle, or should it
> > slide smoothly on that shaft?   Can that little bushing be replaced by
> > itself?  What's it called?  thanks. Don Hanson
> > --
> >
>