mtnbkr81

iTrader: (1)

So, I'm in the middle of my LS6 engine swap and i was changing the damper over last night. I was using a Grade 8 bolt to pull the damper onto the shaft. The bolt seemed to thread in fine for about 8 to 10 threads, then it jammed up and would not move. Finally after torquing on it with a 3 ft cheater bar on the breaker bar, the dang bolt sheared off in my crankshaft. Some history on the bolt that was used....It had been used several times before for the same task, so my thought is is that the threads were a touch stretched and after the 8 to 10 threads, it mismatched and jammed up. So, now my question is is how the heck do I get the dang thing out without pulling the crankshaft? I would really appreciate and and all ideas!!! Thank you in advance!!!


thanks,

a slightly perterbed

tim

crainholio

iTrader: (2)

I'd recommend first pulling the balancer back off. See if you have any of the bolt extending beyond the crank snout. If you do, you may be able to get it out w/ a big pair of vise-grips...spray the bolt threads down w/ PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench and let it soak in first.

If that doesn't work, or you have no bolt extending from the snout, then find a shop that you can have the car towed to. The usual fix is for the shop to weld a rod to the broken bolt end and use that to bring it out.

Don't try drilling and extracting yourself, you'll end up with a broken tool stuck in the bolt and further worsen your chances of success.

A while back, a guy here was selling a low-buck installation tool that would have prevented this. The volume of flack he got here from people professing that using the crank threads to force the balancer on was a non-issue was astounding.

mtnbkr81

iTrader: (1)

ya, i don't have any bolt out the end of the crank snout so she's probably gonna have to be drilled out somehow. Thanks for your help man.

crainholio

iTrader: (2)

Resist the urge to drill it yourself...end up w/ a broken hardened drill bit in there and your problems only get worse.

The welding trick typically gets good results. The heat the broken bolt soaks up during the welding helps in the removal.

For an installation tool, I just bought the front seal installer J-tool and added a roller bearing from Sears in place of the plastic seal installer cup. Best money I ever spent. It's just a long threaded rod with a big nut and the extra roller bearing, but it's much gentler on the crank threads and easily pulls the balancer into place.

bowtieman81

iTrader: (35)

How do you weld onto a bolt that is broken off about 3 inches into the crank snout?

crainholio

iTrader: (2)

Not sure where you got 3" depth from, he didn't specify and no matter how hard I squinted at the screen I couldn't see it from here.

I haven't run across one snapped that deep into the crank. Usual failure mode is the guy using a big breaker bar or cheater pipe and putting angular force on the bolt, which then snaps pretty far away from the part threaded into the crank which can't flex.

Using a bolt and the crank's threads to install a balancer is just a f'd up way to do it. I'm still scratching my head about how one gets a Grade 8 metric bolt...last I checked metric hardware was rated by Property Class.

squirts1

go to sears and get broken bolt removal tools...