Harmonic Balancer stripped bolt...HELP!!

[ParadiseMJ]

Last week I finished my harmonic balancer install and it went fairly well. I had not torqued it down because it started raining and I figured I'd just finish it the next day.

 

So my problem is it WON'T torque down. It just spins. I noticed that the end of the bolt is chewed up. Can I use a shorter bolt or should I re-tap the crank snout...and if so should tap it 1/2" x 20 or??

 

Any answers? I wanna drive the mutha'.

[Eagle]

Is the damper fully pulled into place? I suspect your mistake was using the original bolt to try to install the damper. It's a press fit, and it needs the bolt to pull it onto the crank snout. But ... the original bolt is too short, resulting in a stripped end. The correct procedure is to use a longer bolt to draw the damper onto the crank snout, then replace with the original bolt for final torque-down.

 

If the bolt is tripped, chances are the crank is okay and just needs the threads chased out.

[ParadiseMJ]

Is the damper fully pulled into place? I suspect your mistake was using the original bolt to try to install the damper. It's a press fit, and it needs the bolt to pull it onto the crank snout. But ... the original bolt is too short, resulting in a stripped end. The correct procedure is to use a longer bolt to draw the damper onto the crank snout, then replace with the original bolt for final torque-down.

 

If the bolt is tripped, chances are the crank is okay and just needs the threads chased out.

 

I used a longer bolt with about 7-8 washers. I did not use the original bolt. When the snout was about 1/2 inch from the HB seating, I inserted the original bolt. It's NOT stripped until you get to the end of the bolt itself, then the bolt is chewed up.

 

How do I "chase out" the threads.

[JeffN]

get a bottoming tap the size of the factory bolt and run use it to "chase" repair the threads