dixiebandit69

I'm building a mild 5.3, and I just noticed that the crankshaft rear sealing surface has some pitting. If you look closely, you can see the line where the old crank seal used to ride, and the pitting is slightly intruding upon that.
I know that is not ideal.





My questions:

What would you guys do in this situation?

The only repair sleeve available for these engines requires machining of the crankshaft.
Would it be possible to not push the rear main seal all the way into the housing by 1/8" or so, to give the seal a new area to ride on?

RB04Av

Looks like you could fill that with epoxy and sand it down smooth.

Che70velle

iTrader: (6)

That #5 journal is pitted also. Have the crank polished and have them polish the flange there also….might get the pitting on that flange smoother…smooth enough to not matter anyway.

dixiebandit69

The crank came back from polishing, but they didn't touch that sealing area.

I'm open to the idea of filling it with 24-hour JB Weld.

CattleAc

iTrader: (7)

I've seen a couple of the good ol' boys I know fix hydraulic cylinders with this method.

But how much would a good used replacement cost??

dixiebandit69

UPDATE: Filling in the low spots with JB Weld did not work. Even after letting it cure for 24 hours, it didn't seem to adhere to the pitted area. When I tried sanding it smooth, that part just came loose. I prepped the area by spraying it down with brake cleaner, and then heated it lightly with a torch to get rid of any moisture/ impurities, then let it cool for a few minutes. That wasn't going to do it, so on to plan B: Spacing out the rear seal.

I cut up an old piston ring into six pieces, and stuck them to the base of the rear housing with dielectric grease in an even fashion. This will keep the seal from going in the last 1.5MM.



Once the seal is pushed evenly against all of the ring pieces, I took them out through the other side with a small pick.


Hopefully this will be a success.

For the record, I would much rather use a repair sleeve, but there is no easy option for these engines, for some reason.

More than you might think/ more than I'm willing to spend. You'd think that these cranks would be a dime a dozen, since GM made about 20 million of them, but everyone in my area wants $150+ just for a damn CORE crankshaft that will need another $150-$200 of work to be usable.

People used to practically give 5.3s away, but I guess those days are over.

Hell, I used to work with a guy who THREW AWAY a Gen IV 5.3 with a bad AFM lifter just because his wife kept bitching about the room it was taking up in the garage! I felt like punching him.