Why is my crank not drilled for harmonic balancer. I have never seen this. Please let me know. Thanks.
No worries as long as there is still a tight press fit, they have been known to get worn, work their way off and do some damage.
I don`t know chevy, so if their is no threads, how is one pressed on? tapped with a hammer? if so seems it would be hard on thrust bearing.
Best way is bolting the balancer halves together tight with 2 3/8'' bolts, then drive it on with BFH & a block of wood.
The crank can be drilled and tapped, in the car. I did it about 55 years ago to a 283 in a '64 Chevy II, on an apartment parking lot, no less.
The best method I've used is to set the balancer on a hot plate balanced on the small diameter. Let it get toasty, then slip it on the crank snout. Most hot plates will just boil water so we are talking about maybe 220 degrees. It's not enough to damage the balancer.
Common like others have said. I think the actual tool was a press type bar that bolted to the front holes on the block or something like that....I would have to look in an old shop manual.
I used to pound them on when I was a kid. Now I press them on with a bottle jack. Make a rectangular frame if you don’t have a press. I support the rear of engine on the crankshaft and press it on. Once I place an engine in a clean backhoe bucket, blocked to the crankshaft on one side bottle jack blocked on the other end. PRESS- TO. After seeing many of crankshaft having been welded and re-ground to bring the thrust back to tolerance . But if on the side of the road replacing a timing chain- it’s a block of wood and bang-it’s installed.
Chevy suggested the big hammer approach. It won't hurt the thrust bearing, which has a very large surface area, and the crank has a lot of mass, so the bearing sees very little stress from the installation process. from the 1955 Chevy shop manual, note that the design of the harmonic balancer changed a few years later to not have parts bolted together, so that step is not required. And since Chevy called it a balancer, I won't get into the semantic argument.
Hi Jim , You stated a 1955 Chevy shop manual,,,,that’s good enough for me ! Chevy was always a fairly smart group,,,,,if they called it a balancer,,,it must be . Lol . Tommy
One drawback to not having the crank threaded is the camshaft gear is not locked in place as it would be if you had the bolt to tighten the balancer/damper against it.
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