my starter gear stuck and got ate up by the flywheel. so im having the starter overhauled and i need to know how to get the chewed up pieces of the gear out of the flywheel compartment( sorry thats the best terminology that i can give you) also the flywheel is looks fine. any suggestions please

Magnet is my first thought.

The safest way would be to pull the engine and tranny and seperate the two. Clean out the bell housing good...

You don't need to pull the engine, maybe the tranny but you can leave the motor where it is if you have the PCM style motor mounts, just support the back of the motor. It would be good to check the flywheel too. What engine and tranny is it? Do you have an inspection cover over the flywheel anywhere?

You are right bocephus...My bad. Dunno where my head is today.

If the starter gear got chewed up then it is likely that the flywheel teeth are in pretty bad shape also. <BR> <BR>As a minimum you need to get mirrors and/or video camera to peer into the hole the starter came out of and then slowly rotate the engine (use a big socket &amp; breaker bar on the pully) and examine all the flywheel teeth. All it takes is for there to be one bad spot and eventually you will not be able to get the starter to engage. <BR> <BR>If the flywheel is okay then I would try a combination of magnets and vacuum to get the pieces out. Shove a length of 3/8 tubing into the vacuum hose, seal it with tape and push the free end into the bell housing to pick up whatever you can. <BR>