Crankshaft Keyway repair, in vehicle

[waynep]

Hello All;

Saga continues. Pulled old harmonic balancer off and of course the keyway was damaged on one side causing the balancer to rotate slightly due to the bolt coming loose.
Appreciate all ideas on how to repair or make a new keyway on the crank nose WITHOUT removing the crank?
Is winter here so epoxy etc will not set and I don't think it would hold in any case.
Maybe grind an extra long keyway and use a rectangular key instead of half moon as was in there?
Also, if I try and just put a new half moon key in, it will fall out before I can fully put on the harmonic balancer!
Thank you
1997, Subway, 2500, 4WD, 6.5 Turbo.

[Robyn]

When one of these gets all beat up, its a real BEOTCH for sure.

You can try installing a new half moon key and let it ride up against the undamaged side of the keyway and then using a punch and a hammer, peen the metal back into to tighten the key up in the slot.

This will take some finesse and care. You will need to go slowly and carefully. This is an Iron crank, not steel and will therefore not respond the same as a steel one.

Once the keyway is peened back tight against the key, carefully clean up the area to the ballancer will go back on properly.

This is certainly not the ideal fix, but the other better fix is to remove the crank (engine out) and have anew Keyway cut or at least oversize cut the one thats there and then use a "Step" key.

Good luck

Missy

[Yukon6.2]

Hi
Check out some locktight products.They have some retaining compounds that will help keep everything tight if you were to try and fix in truck.If you try robyns fix they will definantly help hold it together.I would use it around the complete crank,not just the key.I used some two part metel epoxy on some suspension parts i had that were worn.I built them up with weld,then ground them close to were i could slid the bushing on.Then i applyed the epoxy bolted everything together.So far it's held ok,no sign of the epoxy breaking down,no extro slop yet.
You can heat up the under hood area to get the epoxy to cure,tarp up the hood down to the ground,use an electric heater to heat area.If you have a tiger tourch and a piece of ducting,you can heat the area with it just don't leave the tourch anattended .
Good Luck
Thomas

[Beedee]

Loctite does make some excellent products.

We use 638 ( I think that's the right number) for bearings and shafts that are a bit loose but not worth the build up and machine work that would be required to repair to new.

Just a note.

This is a high strength product, it aint going to come apart the next time with out some major force or the application of heat, (lots of heat, I mean an oxy acetylene torch) to break the bond. If you use it on the crank, you will only get one chance so make sure you get it right when you install.

Make sure every thing is CLEAN and oil free, if not it will not bond properly.

Good luck

Brian

[waynep]

Hello All:

I see that Locktite makes something called liquid metal, 660, single part adhesive part holder that they have a video about repairing crankshaft keyways. I may give that a try if I don't hear a better idea from all you great members.

I also thought of trying to grind another keyway, but that does not look at all easy?

Regards,
Wayne