Time to remove the flywheel. This can be tough on these. I ended up getting it of by leaving a harmonic balancer puller under tension, heating the center of the flywheel with a propane torch, then using a small piece of 2x4 and big hammer - hamming on the outer edges of the flywheel. Patience...
One of the bolts from the puller broke while I was working on this. I had plastic reading glasses on, and the head of the bolt hit me in one the lenses. Protect your eyes kids!
One of the few things in life that I have found to always be true - things are expensive when you are in a hurry... I didn't feel like walking over to the toolbox to find my clutch puller. I didn't put it on very tight. I'll just pry on the edge a bit, and it'll pop off. Or not. I bought a used replacement off of ebay for $75. Someday I will learn.
I had the machine running while up on a stand and could see that the left front axle was bent. It wobbled about 1/4" or more. They look so beefy that I couldn't believe it, but, a straight edge confirms that it is bent. Not sure how that happened - thinking maybe a previous owner was spinning the rears at high speed and that hub engaged? Not sure how else that could happen, with no signed of impact anywhere... Rmatv had their Tusk brand replacement axles on sale for $70 so I bought one. Some Tusk stuff has lasted me years, other has been total junk. Time will tell.
Water pump rebuild today. This is what the water pump looks like with the 2 seals and bearing removed. Notice the 2 holes. The outer one is to allow oil to pass through for the bearing. The small inner hole is the weep hole for the coolant - just like other water pumps, weeps coolant out to let you know if there is a problem. When you install both seals and the bearing, you have to be sure not to cover those holes.
