Sheared Flywheel Ring Gear Locating Flange

[OldFart187]

On my '53 Ferguson TO30, the pathetic thin shoulder locating the ring gear on the flywheel was found in pieces in the bell housing although ring gear was still in position. I'm guessing that 70+ years of being whacked by the starter pinion fatigued the poor thing and sheared the shoulder off. It seems to be ok for now but I've read about another owner who's starter no longer engages. Should I split the thing again while it's still on blocks or plow ahead and hope?

If I do decide to do something, is there a preferred fix other than buying a new or used flywheel? Some have suggested skip welding which I can do with my stick welder but preheating with a torch or in my wife's oven would be a pain.

Any thoughts?

 

[OldFart187]

Been reading old posts on this. Skip weld, tapped holes at the interface or washer clips seem to be the suggestions. I'm leaning towards tapping 6 to 8 1/4-20 holes in the rear face of the flywheel about 3/8 from the OD and use 1/4" thick rectangular washers. The washers would stick up past the OD about 1/16" and stepped to locate the ring gear about 0.070 forward of the rear face. The clips will be weight matched and attached by grade 8 bolts installed with Loctite 271.