How to swap reluctor wheels on your LS crank

The LS engines are segregated into Gen III and Gen IV variants, respectively. There are a few variations between these versions, but the reluctor wheel is a significant one that impacts installing one in your vehicle on an Ls crank. A magnetic sensor situated on the crank's rear reads the reluctor when it is mounted there near the starter.

There are a few strategies to employ to get the old reluctor wheel off and the new one on without damaging the LS cranks' pressed-on reluctor wheels. The key ingredient in this install recipe is heating. By heating, It will expand just enough on the reluctor wheel so that it can easily glide onto the crank.

Here are the steps to follow:

1. There is a 24x (24 teeth) reluctor wheel included with the LS crank. The best method to get the reluctor wheel on Ls crank on and off is with a little heat, or even just running hot water because they are interference fit (approximately 0.007 inches).

2. The best approach to work with wheels is to heat the joint where the reluctor and crank meet using a torch. The two plates that makeup 24x wheels are tack welded together as a two-piece assembly. They are reasonably priced at roughly $20.(PN 12559353).

3. The crank and reluctor wheel must be perfectly indexed. Crank-crank installers' lives are made much simpler by the Reluctor Ring Installation Tool, which comes with simple-to-use equipment and online instruction on how to make it appear more like a true reluctor.

4. The 11mm blind dowel hole in the internal guide pin is indexed to the flywheel flange of the crank located on the inside of the jig's ring. This installation will refer to the hole as the 12 o'clock hole.

5. The previous reluctor wheel (PN 12586768) was shown here before it was taken out. In regard to the crank flange, the indexing hole on this component will end up being at around 4 o'clock. Keep an eye out for the two holes that have points; they should face 3 and 9 o'clock.

6. You won't go out of position with this tool, which can lead to timing difficulties for the engine's ECU. The newly installed 58x wheel is indexed to the crank (located at 12 o'clock) and the wheel (located at 4 o'clock).

7. In this image, you can see how the outside dowel of the installation tool aligns with the 8mm hole in the reluctor wheel.

8. The inside edge of the ring may be heated to 450 F using a torch or oven. The reluctor wheel on Ls crank slides into position at around 450 F, and as the temperature decreases, it will only require a few taps with a hammer to move onto the crank.

9. Once heated to the proper temperature, seating the ring on the crank just required a few gentle taps with a dead blow hammer on the jig.

10. After removing the jig, we used a hammer and an unorthodox energy transfer device to make sure the reluctor wheel on Ls crank was firmly against the crank flange.

11. With that, we were finished. When our LS engine had cooled, we reinstalled the crank and spun it to check sure the wheel still cleared the back of the block and wasn't deformed in the process.

If you’re facing any issue with the ls crankshaft reluctor wheel. You can easily find it on the website of Total performance; You can also get in touch with the experts to understand the problems your car might be facing.