Brandon587

I've had this issue for a while, but I'm thinking about fixing it soon, maybe in a week or two. I have a rattle under my truck in park or neutral, goes away in drive or reverse. It comes back at low speeds, like 5 mph. But if I put it into second at 5 mph it stops rattling. It also seems to do it while coasting or under extremely light load, until somewhere around torque converter lock up. I can only hear it at those speeds by a wall with the windows down or something like that. Listening around with a stethoscope, it is coming from the bell housing. So, this lead me to believe its my flexplate. I go to tighten all bolts, all are good except the last one. I try to tighten it and it just spins. I had this problem when I took out the transmission a year ago to replace the front pump seal, and I thought I retreaded it well and fixed it, but I guess not. So, should I replace the flex plate when I pull out the transmission? I don't want to have a hairline crack and not know it and put it all back together again to have the same noise. And are there flex plates better than others, or are all the same quality? Same thickness, quality of metal, ect. I've been driving the truck everywhere like this for about 18,000 miles with no issues other than the noise. Thanks for the help!

Just call me Sean

iTrader: (1)

It should be a noticeable crack if it makes noise.

Brandon587

I might buy a flexplate from a parts store or something to have ready if mine is cracked, I'm trying to get it done in a day. So, if a retread the stud on the torque converter, it needs to be smaller. So if I use a one size smaller nut on one spot, this wouldn't somehow affect the balance and throw something off right? I know it's only ounces in weight differences, but just to be sure. And can I just use a regular nut?

Brandon587

I meant to say if a rethread the stud on the converter

Brandon587

And any ideas on how to remove this bolt without pulling the transmission? Last time to get the nut off I had to pry on the flex plate with a crow bar to get enough tension on the nut to get it out. Maybe I could stick a washer or two in so that the bolt can tighten down the flex plate, and hopefully it's not cracked.

Just call me Sean

iTrader: (1)

If you have a loose converter bolt that could be making the noise, but that could also cause the flywheel to crack. I wouldn't be afraid to try rethreading.

Brandon587

I did finally get that bolt off, tryed putting in a few washers and put the bolt back on in hopes of it catching good thread and tighten down, but it didn't. And the stuff is too short for two bolts. So I put it back on and I'm waiting for a friends dad to bring home a rethread kit this weekend and I'm going to try to rethread it. I have a feeling The flexplate will be cracked though, but ill try this before pulling out the transmission. Hopefully it works. But when I was trying to find the trouble nut, I was turning the engine at the main crank. When I had a friend start the truck, I forgot something, and it was the dumbest mistake I've ever made working on vehicles. I left the ratchet on the bolt for the pulley in front of the main crank. Started it, heard a loud clash, had my friend turn it off as fast as possible, and my heart sunk lol. I remembered what I forgot. Looked down there, the bolt came out for the pulley, pulley was still on, and bolt was ok. Ratchet hit the bottom off my fan shroud, one fan blade, and hit my transmission cooler lines. Broke part of my shroud, bent my fan blade some, and bent my cooler lines pretty good. I bent them back, and seems good though. I feel embarrassed even making a mistake like that though, that could've been a lot worse.

Brandon587

Ok, so there isn't enough stud to get a good rethread of the same size. And I can't get the next size down on it either, even going to metric. A tap and die would be extremely hard to do with the transmission in the truck. Would lock tight work?

Just call me Sean

iTrader: (1)

No.

Brandon587

So is a tap and die my only option now?