I Think I Hose My Crank

[mhartsel]

PLEASE HELP.....Thought that I was doing this right, but obviously not. I have a 1992 6.2L N/A Diesel and was in the middle of a tear down of the front end....was going to replace water pump, harmonic balancer, timing Chain, etc.

The problem started today with the Harmonic Balancer...I have looked though two different manuals and it does not state to remove or not remove the big nut on the Harmonic Balancer..I have been digging through these forums and one guy made a comment to another who was having trouble pulling his HB off DID YOU TAKE YOUR BOLT OUT. Well, I DID(I was able to get the beast off)...and I think I screwed up. Because it looks like I have pulled two inches of the crank out the front with the HB puller.

So my next question....what the hell did I do wrong...was the bolt suppose to stay on...is the HB just pressed on...if so...how the heck would you press it on with the bolt on.... the HB Puller is at the end at the HB is still on, so did I mess up the lower end of the engine.

I'm suppose to be pulling my trailer down to Tennessee the 1st of next month....looks like I screwed the truck up big time.

[mhartsel]

Sorry guys...I figured this one out....jumped the gun...have only changed out one timing belt and one timing chain...both 10+ years ago so was worried when I got to the end of my HB puller and the Balancer was still on....thought for sure I had screwed something up....that's how my luck normally goes...But I had posted on another site and he said it looked good but that it had a ways to go...so I threaded the bolt in which gave my another inch to work with, and within two twists of the wrench the thing fell off into my hand.

I feel pretty foolish right about now, but I am back on track...Now I just have to get the timing chain changed out. Hopefully I can do that correctly without screwing up.

I'm hoping that it makes a difference...the engine has 214000 miles on it.

Take Care,

Mike

[derekja]

Hmm, thank you for posting that! I expect to be there on my first timing chain within a few hours and I might well have done the same thing. 215,000 on my 6.5td.

[RoverIIa]

If you have the rubber-damped crank pulley, which it looks like you do (for your serpentine belt) make sure to inspect it really closely. Cracks in the rubber can ruin your day quickly.

[mhartsel]

Yeah, I do have the Rubber Pulley....and surprisingly it is in pretty good shape....can't say the same for the harmonic balancer though....after I got it off...I looked at the back side of it and the rubber is oozing out in places. I am waiting on parts and will make sure to replace all the seals and clean up the area really good before I put it all back together.

Lots of oil and gunk build up on the back side of the balancer.

The bolt on the Harmonic Balancer is a pain to get off...you will have to keep the crank from moving blocking the flywheel....OR like I did....

I was reading another post from a guy who said that he used a piece of angle iron...so that is what I did....I went to home depot...grabbed a 4ft piece of angle iron....the kind that already has holes and slotted holes in it....hacked sawed a 2ft piece(you could probably make it shorter) off from it. Attached it to the HB and then rested the other end on the frame of the truck....worked like a charm....I will do the same when I torque it back on....you can take the HB Pulley Bolts with you to the hardware store and pickup some shorter ones to use with this setup...mine were about 3/4 inch long....the package reads Hex Bolt Hex Head 10mm- 1 5 X 20mm...same thread as the pulley bolts....

[Subzilla]

I like that removal trick! I always called over a friend for 2 minutes to put a prybar on the flywheel. Once I got the bolt off, I'd send him on his way and I always hated to do that.

[highpockets]

I notice that your puller has a pointed end. Check your crank shaft threads for distortion as that point will put a great deal of stress on a small area. I found that using a suitable socket on the pointed end to spread the load to the outer diameter of the crank will prevent this.
If your bolt won't thread back into the crank I would not use a tap as a cross thread is likely. But use a round file to remove the first few threads until the bolt goes in easly.
Thank you for the photos. Bob.

[RoverIIa]

The angle is a neat idea. I've always used an impact wrench, or the friend trick, although one time I did figure out how to wedge a prybar in the flywheel gear and against the frame. This was about 5 minutes before I decided to buy an impact wrench. IF the engine/trans/driveline is all assembled, you can set the clutch and low gear on the t-case and the parking brake and torque everything without the truck moving too.

Anyway... I'm glad you got it figured out. Good luck!

-Nate