drgraham
New Member
Just to follow up on the issues with removing the harmonic balancer bolt on my SHO. Well after much frustration, I resulted to taking the dermal tool and grinding the bolt washer. My goal was to grind the washer off the bolt then pull the balancer off over the bolt. At which point I would be able to grasp onto the bolt with something that has a little more girth to it.
I had already broken several tools and tried all kinds of techniques, spoken with all kinds of people and in fact even considered to taking it into a auto shop. I opted to dismiss auto shop after they told me they would not be doing anything more that I have not already done and to top it off they were going to charge me over a hundred bucks, furthermore they were not going to guarantee they would get it.
Well I started grinding and after getting about a third of it ground off, I rotated the shaft to get another area on the washer to work on, and the bolt just about came spinning out with just a slight turn on it. Seems that the face of the washer had just enough surface tension on the face of the balancer that the bolt washer and balancer were working as one and the threads of the bolt were not under any tension. Once tension was relieved on the washer, the threads of the bolt were able to bite and back the bolt out. In hind site, I would offer this piece of advice. If the standard procedure of placing the ratchet on the frame and bumping the starter does not work, I’d suggest taking a rubber mallet and a block of wood and bang on the balance to push it onto the shaft just a little, to relieve the pressure on the bolt-washer.
I could not believe that this turned out this way and I experienced so much trouble and broke so many tools. There was in fact no lock tight or corrosions on the bolt, the threads were are in very good shape and the crank shaft threads are in good shape too. I am not a mechanic by trade but I do know my way around an engine and in all my time spent working on them, I have never had this kind of situation. In talking with my Chief Engineer and all the other people about this, they have all been perplexed about this issue. I want to thank you all
for all of you input and advice. Since I have some time and the car is still on the stands I figure that I will keep it there for a little while and redo the bearings, with 200K it will not be long before I will find myself under the hood again. Might as well get it all knocked out at once.
Again, thanks all and we’ll talk more.
David Graham
thumbs_u
I had already broken several tools and tried all kinds of techniques, spoken with all kinds of people and in fact even considered to taking it into a auto shop. I opted to dismiss auto shop after they told me they would not be doing anything more that I have not already done and to top it off they were going to charge me over a hundred bucks, furthermore they were not going to guarantee they would get it.
Well I started grinding and after getting about a third of it ground off, I rotated the shaft to get another area on the washer to work on, and the bolt just about came spinning out with just a slight turn on it. Seems that the face of the washer had just enough surface tension on the face of the balancer that the bolt washer and balancer were working as one and the threads of the bolt were not under any tension. Once tension was relieved on the washer, the threads of the bolt were able to bite and back the bolt out. In hind site, I would offer this piece of advice. If the standard procedure of placing the ratchet on the frame and bumping the starter does not work, I’d suggest taking a rubber mallet and a block of wood and bang on the balance to push it onto the shaft just a little, to relieve the pressure on the bolt-washer.
I could not believe that this turned out this way and I experienced so much trouble and broke so many tools. There was in fact no lock tight or corrosions on the bolt, the threads were are in very good shape and the crank shaft threads are in good shape too. I am not a mechanic by trade but I do know my way around an engine and in all my time spent working on them, I have never had this kind of situation. In talking with my Chief Engineer and all the other people about this, they have all been perplexed about this issue. I want to thank you all
for all of you input and advice. Since I have some time and the car is still on the stands I figure that I will keep it there for a little while and redo the bearings, with 200K it will not be long before I will find myself under the hood again. Might as well get it all knocked out at once. Again, thanks all and we’ll talk more.
David Graham
thumbs_u
