Ford 4500 Backhoe Flywheel /Clutch Problem

[Robsinno1]

The flywheel on my Ford 4500 backhoe had excessive wear on the friction surface area from years of clutch use. Though only about .020" of material need to be removed to resurface the clutch disk friction area, approximately .200" of material had to be removed from the remaining perimeter surface where the pressure plate is bolted to the flywheel in order to create a flat surface across the entire face of the flywheel. This means the pressure plate is now about .200" further from the throw out bearing when the clutch pedal is depressed. The service manual says the limit for resurfacing the flywheel is .080", but the clutch functioned properly prior to resurfacing the flywheel when the friction surface was worn down about .180", which is still .100" more than the recommended limit. I've read where people have cut the end of the clutch adjustment rod and added more threads to the rod to give it more travel, enabling the throw out bearing and hub to move further toward the pressure plate, but I don't know just how much travel was needed for those applications. Is this a viable option? My concern is that the release bearing fork may end up binding where it fits on the release bearing hub, thereby limiting the amount of potential forward movement.
Another possible solution is to use a spacer/shim between the crank and the flywheel to push the flywheel out, but I don't know what effect that may have on crank bearings or the rear main seal or starter drive engagement on the ring gear. Though I know crank to flywheel shims are not uncommon for some engines, I can't seem to find any information for using them on heavy equipment engines. As far as I can tell, no one makes crank to flywheel shims for a 201 (3 cylinder) diesel with 6/4 manual trans and 11" clutch assembly. Would this work if I had one made?