Looking to pick up a good barring tool to work on my 12 valve.  Reading reviews just frustrates me and I don't want to waste $40 on cheap junk.  Who is the vendor of your choice for this essential tool?  Two I was looking at:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/cart/view.html?ref_=nav_cart

 

https://www.genosgarage.com/product/tool-ltbt/tools

 

Edited June 14, 20196 yr by PilotHouse2500

Here's the one I have. No complaints here. 

2 hours ago, BBHD said:

Here's the one I have. No complaints here. 

 

cool that is the one I linked from Amazon.

well that didn't work worth crap.  I could see it not engage the ring gear teeth, it just skipped off them.  NO reason that I can think of that this shouldn't work between and auto and manual trans ring gear.

Could be an auto to manual difference. My 6 speed requires a spacer to move it towards the front of the engine about 3/8" so it will engage the fly wheel. I have never had a barring tool to know.

I have used mine on several nv4500's and a couple 5600's. 

5 hours ago, BBHD said:

I have used mine on several nv4500's and a couple 5600's. 

Any suto's? I take it not since you did not mention it. Do the nv4500's have a spacer for the starter? 

5 minutes ago, dripley said:

Any suto's? I take it not since you did not mention it. Do the nv4500's have a spacer for the starter? 

No autos in the family unfortunately. No spacer on the 4500's like the starters on the 5600's

5 minutes ago, BBHD said:

No autos in the family unfortunately. No spacer on the 4500's like the starters on the 5600's

Well chunk my theory in creek.

tonight I will literally lay the old ring gear on the manual ring gear and see if there is a difference.  If there is a difference the starter would need to be different as well and I don't see that as very logical.

Mine usese the same starter as the 5 speed and auto but with a spacer between the block and the starter. That leads me to believe the ring in mine is closer to the block.

 

 

I don't think it's an issue of spacing from the block.  The tool seated and lined up with the teeth properly (depth-wise), but was too far away to mesh (horizontally).  So either the barring tool is the wrong diameter, or the ring gear is different.  I had read reviews that engagement was the biggest issue with these tools and they'd just skip (like this one did), but this one was said to be a solid match.

Spent sometime last night messing around with things.  I got a barring tool from the lead tech out in the engineering tech center and it is of much higher quality.  Putting it opposite the one I bought, the only difference is the length of engagement.  So I scratched my head and compared the old ring gear with the new one.  Again, same size.  Ok I bolt up the old one (without the TC attached), and see where things land.  Both tools land nicely on the ring gear....so ok, lets try to use them...both tend to want to pull off the ring gear if I don't put some force towards trying to keep them engaged.  Doesn't seem right to have to put THAT much load on to do that, but it did work, just tool lots of time to advance very far.  So I poked around some more and it seems that whomever fixed the issue below (see the areas where you can see it's been worn) obbed out the hole for the tool, allowing the tool to move more than it should.  Seems the PO (NOW he tells me) that the reason he had the trans rebuilt was the flex plate was loose that did all that wearing (and now I know where all the metal chips I found were from). I guess even buying from someone you know very well, you end up with surprises.

Edited July 2, 20196 yr by PilotHouse2500