Rounded Harmonic Balancer Bolt

[SHO Continental]

I went to go help my dad out on his Mocha/Mocha Plus today, he'd been having some trouble getting the bolt off the harmonic balancer. The head of the bolt was already a bit mashed up. As I'm not quite familiar with the correct technique on Northern cars we ended up with a pretty rounded off head and 19 and 18mm sockets that had some extra meat on them now.

I'm halfway tempted to just swap out the motor for one of my rust free Cali ones. What do I do next?

 

[SASHO91]

Access to a welder??? Tack a nut on there.
Or...
Grab a set of bolt-outs. IIRC, they do have a 3/4 in the set.
Or...
Grab a 17mm socket, one that you don't need anymore.... rather you wont want anymore... and a BFH... go to town.

It would be best if you used an impact as well.

 

[Ishodu]

I would get a nut that would fit over the rounded bolt. Rather than tack it on plug weld it on good. Then try again.

 

[shopartsnw]

In a similar previous thread ... somone pointed out that you can take a small hole saw slightly larger than the head of the bolt to cut most of the ****** part of the bolt head off. This will greatly reduce the friction, so when you weld the nut on, you will be less likely to snap off the bolt in the crank.

 

[Racer X]

Chisel + Heavy Hammer + Shoulder of Bolt + Patience = Removed Crank Bolt

 

[Ishodu]

In a similar previous thread ... somone pointed out that you can take a small hole saw slightly larger than the head of the bolt to cut most of the ****** part of the bolt head off. This will greatly reduce the friction, so when you weld the nut on, you will be less likely to snap off the bolt in the crank.

Ya I forgot about that, see as how I suggested it in that other thread I feel pretty bad about forgetting it. Must be getting old.

 

[AREA 91]

I have drilled several holes around the perimeter of the bolt, into the flat shoulder. Once you do this the bolt will come right out.

Did you start out with the "'starter bump" methoid?

 

[SHO Continental]

I don't have access to a welder, short of trailering the car somewhere. And the truck is waiting for some for a new timing belt housing via snail mail so that'll be a while.

He'd used the bump start method before I got there, it slipped off though a few times.

Looks like I'll be drilling or grinding off the shoulder of the bolt, then trying again with a 17. We'll see how it goes!

 

[87hurricane]

I just used the hole saw method, and it worked great! After fighting with that bolt for most of a day, drilling holes in the ****** etc, I finally resorted to a hole saw. I used one that just barley fit over the head of the bolt, and took the whole ****** off. Then I pulled the balancer off with the bolt head still in place, and used a pipe wrench to take it out once the balancer pulley was removed. Total time was maybe 10 mins, wish I would have started with that. I needed to replace the bolt, but I needed that anyway after it stripped.