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Left a car show on the weekend, got a few miles away and heard a terrible racket which ended up being my the ATI harmonic balancer w/supercharger pulley coming off the car and grinding down the road under the car.
The AC pulley needs to be replaced (which is easy to find) as well as the supercharger pulley (not so easy).
My question is the hub for the harmonic balancer has a key way, and when I look into the crank shaft end I can see a key but it’s flush with a silver plate looking thing. Will this plate push in as the hub is tightened on?? Or has the key pushed too far in and I need to fish it out? Or do I put the hub on and buy a pin kit?
I’ve only had the car for a year, so just learning.
Also, if anyone has a hookup for a supercharger pulley that would be great. This one is about 8.2”, from a Vortech kit. Both Vortech and Procharger said they can’t help me. I see ATI has a supercharger pulley that is 8.29”, so might have to try that.
That is unfortunate. There is a 16mm bolt that hold it all together axially. Where is that bolt ? Torque to yield its very tight when installing. These crank driven charger setups need some kind of pin/keyway to prevent the balancer hub from slipping on crankshaft snout.
Are you talking the bolt that threads into the crank? My guess is whoever did the install didn’t use loctite, the bolt backed out, and caused this mess.
In the first picture you can see the key, so do I have to push the hub far enough in, to push past that silver backing plate and catch the key?
The "silver backing plate" is the oil pump drive sleeve. No, it does not push in. No, its key does not engage the crank damper. Its key is for itself alone.
Looks like whoever put that together left out a rather important detail. They didn't machine a keyway onto the crank to match the one you can see on the inside of the damper. Stock cranks don't have one, since a stock damper doesn't put all that much force on the damper, one isn't needed. They may not have tightened the bolt enough, it's TTY, and takes usually something around 200 ft-lbs to reach yield; or maybe even didn't put it back in at all, which I find hard to believe, butt hay, stranger mistakes have been made. One way or another, it was improperly installed, just kinda half-assed onto there. Maybe just Skillet "slapping a blower on it" in his driveway.
That crank looks pretty grim. Doesn't look repairable; looks like too much metal has been ground off of the snout by the damper not being held on securely and being allowed to spin. Looks to me like there's a new crank in your immediate future. This time, make sure you have a good competent machine shop machine a keyway into it. Alternatively you can pin it, butt a keyway is much better since it all has to come out anyway.
The "silver backing plate" is the oil pump drive sleeve. No, it does not push in. No, its key does not engage the crank damper. Its key is for itself alone.
Looks like whoever put that together left out a rather important detail. They didn't machine a keyway onto the crank to match the one you can see on the inside of the damper. Stock cranks don't have one, since a stock damper doesn't put all that much force on the damper, one isn't needed. They may not have tightened the bolt enough, it's TTY, and takes usually something around 200 ft-lbs to reach yield; or maybe even didn't put it back in at all, which I find hard to believe, butt hay, stranger mistakes have been made. One way or another, it was improperly installed, just kinda half-assed onto there. Maybe just Skillet "slapping a blower on it" in his driveway.
That crank looks pretty grim. Doesn't look repairable; looks like too much metal has been ground off of the snout by the damper not being held on securely and being allowed to spin. Looks to me like there's a new crank in your immediate future. This time, make sure you have a good competent machine shop machine a keyway into it. Alternatively you can pin it, butt a keyway is much better since it all has to come out anyway.
Agree 100%, the crank snout is pretty severely damaged. I doubt a new balancer would now fit onto that crank properly. Also, the reason that crank bolt may have come loose is that the threads in the crank snout may be damaged, another reason a new crank may be required.
Unfortunately the stock crankshaft is only keyed for the oil pump. Risky business running a supercharger off the ATI balancer on a crankshaft that is not machined for a keyway.
Thanks guys, yeah was pretty disappointed that this would happen. The company that would have installed it is very reputable, but it was done way back in 2009.
Thanks guys, yeah was pretty disappointed that this would happen. The company that would have installed it is very reputable, but it was done way back in 2009.
Did they also install the supercharger? If so, not sure how reputable they are if they installed a supercharger without at least pinning the balancer to the crank.
That balancer is also junk.
It would never fit on a new crank.
I see a new crank, machine work, new balancer and pulleys, and a good look at the oil pump, bearings, etc.
My take is there's some ground up "stuff" in the pan that went thru the pump and elsewhere.
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LS1 Harmonic balancer fell off 
