I spent all weekend swapping cam, valvesprings, pushrods, timing chain, oil pump, etc. All of that is finished and as I'm using my 1" longer crank bolt to pull my new UD pulley on, I SNAP THE CRANK BOLT INSIDE THE CRANKSHAFT! So, I called it quits for the night before messing anything else up any worse, and I will be attacking it tonight with a drill and a bolt extractor.

Lessons Learned:
1) DON'T USE SHITTY MATERIALS (I didn't bother to be sure my 1" longer crank bolt was Grade 8, which it clearly wasn't)
2) DO **** THE RIGHT WAY, THE FIRST TIME (I am purchasing a harmonic balancer installation tool instead of trying to use a regular bolt to pull this damn balancer on)

 

that sucks man, how much was you torquing it to???

 

from now on, go to napa. give them the bolt specs and they will give you a good bolt. just for reference, the bolt will be a redish-bronze color. i have used this bolt for probably a dozen cam swaps.

 

Should have just thrown that bitch in the oven for about 10-15 minutes @ 350, then grabbed some oven mits and threw her on. I've done this about 9 or 10 times now and it's worked flawlessly every time. Seats almost all the way down on the snout first time.

 

Good to know man, never heard of anyone doing that...

 

what kind of 1 inch longer bolt?? if it was some generic bullshit of course its gonna snap

buy hawks install tool, its a bad MF and eliminates problems like this...

 

i like the idea of putting it in the oven... brings physics into working with cars, always a good thing

 

I always bought a threaded rod and used that, not one snapped bolt or fragged thread yet!

 

I think 350 is too hot...may start to do some damage depending on UD pulley composition. Wouldn't go more than 200-250 personally!

 

Pretty sure that if its that hot the crank seal is gonna be melting to the balancer, than ur back to square one, and doing it again. I know thats the way it is for Jeep axle seals if anyone knows what I'm talkin about.

 

I put it in the oven at 250 degrees for 30 mins, and it only went on just the very end of the crank snout. And the bolt that I got WAS from NAPA and it WAS the reddish brown color. And it was pretty damn hard to pull the thing on. Hmmm... I'm starting to wonder if maybe my pulley isn't fitting the way it's supposed to.

 

Isn't the crank bolt metric? Grade 8(8.8 really) is only equivalent to an SAE grade 5.. FWIW.

 

I used the oven method as well for about 30 minutes at 250 degrees. Tapped it on with a block of wood and hammer about 7/8 of the way then thread the stock crank bolt in the rest of the way.

 

You should be using Metric grade 10.9 or greater for this application.

Shane

 

Well that's why I only leave it in for 10 minutes (I'm just impatient I guess ). You're essentially doing the exact same thing as putting it in at 200 for 20 minutes... I'm not actually letting the pulley get to 350 degrees lol. Just letting it get nice and warm.

 

Either it needs to be hotter or you need to be faster at taking it from the oven and getting it on the snout. You should try to be under about 20 seconds or so from oven to snout, it will cool off in a hurry. The first time I did it it took me a few times because I wasn't quick enough and it cooled down before I tried to put it on. Seriously, if all is done right it will just slide all the way down the snout and seat effortlessly. Then you torque your old bolt to make sure it's fully seated, remove and re-install new bolt and torque to proper torque.

 

ok thanks alot for the help guys... i'm going out right now to try and remove the old bolt so i'll just take this one step at a time... i'll keep you all posted

 

thank you for pointing that out, i was just about to....you prolly tried to put it on slightly off centered....it has to be drawn onto the snout perfectly straight. thats why it binded up on you....

 

Have also done this a few times myself on LS1's and on 302's in Fox bodies. Works every time.

 

Let me guess, you were following LS1howto.com for this. The damage could have been done during removal is you used the old bolt to push against. Pulling it on with a bolt provides limited bolt thread engagement and will many times result in damaged threads. Good luck with the repair.