Crank Pulley moved on out!

[Grayeagle]

Hiya;

Started the Vette up Wednesday mornin to run some errands before work.. A/C inop ..

..'weird' I think.. just had it charged and it was icy cold the nite before..

..they never just 'quit' all at once unless compressor clutch goes away or a belt breaks says I.

Popped the hood today (after drivin it back an forth to work Wed an Thu.. including 75mph freeway travelin.

Hmm ..belts still there .. but ..hey look ..it's ridin on the rear *edge* of the crank pulley!!

The *crank* pulley is out far enough that it's touchin the steering rack an pinion.

(that light ticking I had heard that morning is explained..

..it went away after a moment so I disregarded it of course,

thinkin it might be a lifter or accessory bearing that could be looked at later)

The center bolt is still there.

It doesn't seem to be 'loose' ie: I can't turn it by hand or wobble.

Ima park it till payday looks like .. it's gonna need a tow truck to where ever fixes it..

..I dont want to take any chance that she comes apart and tears up alla stuff on the front of the motor.

It *looks* like having to drop the steering rack to get a socket on the bolt to run it back in..

..gotta take the bolt off first to put some thread-lock on it, and thread lock on steering rack bolts etc.

if anything is wrong with the damper of course that will need replaced also.

-sheesh-

I need some help .. AZPS handle this kinda stuff or ?

-Frank -sigh- ..there is no way I am going to take it to a stealership.

I just know they'll piss me off and want 3 grand and 2 weeks of labor.. grrr.

[Grayeagle]

Talked to Mike at AZPS .. dood .. did I mention you guys *rock* ??

Will bring the car to yas Tuesday

Parked till then.

-Frank

[Guest Sidewinder]

Been there, done that!

Check your oil level. Sometimes it will leak oil from around the seal.

[Grayeagle]

Did ..still topped off ..has always been at the 'full' mark ..don't leak any, dont use any .. scary motors, these

-Frank

[Bigfoot]

I bought my car private party. A week after I noticed squeals and stuff coming from under the hood. Looked and could see the balancer with about a 3 or 4 mm wobble. All the squeals and sqeaks were from the bearings in the idler and tensioner pulleys that got trashed from the belt lash. Luckily those are the only ones that were bad.

Bought a 25% underdrive online and slapped her on (was a pain in the arse to do, but fun at the same time). Been perfect ever since.

Make sure you have them use an aftermarket one. The GM originals are 2 metal rings pressed together with a rubber ring inbetween them that deteriorates after time. New one is one solid piece and should last forever.

[a66bbvet]

Who did the work on the A/C unit. They did not hit that bolt by mistake, did they? The bolt is torqued and should not lossen by itself. I think I would ask the question of the mechanic, if for no other reason than to let him know, that you know what he did wrong.

You should be able to put an impact gun on it and tighten it.

[Bigfoot]

Who did the work on the A/C unit. They did not hit that bolt by mistake, did they? The bolt is torqued and should not lossen by itself. I think I would ask the question of the mechanic, if for no other reason than to let him know, that you know what he did wrong.

You should be able to put an impact gun on it and tighten it.

It's not the bolt...the balancer itself is coming apart. GM ingenuity at work.

[Grayeagle]

Umm.

That bolt is torqued to 260ft lbs I hear.

A 3/8" impact gun wont touch it.

Even a 1/2" gun cranked alla way up and left hammerin for awhile would be tough..

..if it would actually be able to reach it

..that steering rack is directly in front of the pulley.

Neither tool is used to put freon in as far as I know ..

..which is the extent of the work done on the A/C unit

The rack passing in front of the pulley is the only reason that pulley is still there.

It's gotta come out to be able to put a socket and wrench on it.

There-in lies the rub .. removin the rack is a bit of a project.

Granted .. its only 4 bolts and the steering shaft

..gotta remove the sway bar to get to those,

..and that's only 4 bolts, and the ends

..after you get the front end up high enough to even see 'em

I really have no idea what possibly could have loosened it.

My initial thought was perhaps the outer ring of the balancer

seperated from the inner ring (ya, Bigfoot ..I know how they're made

-puzzled look- .. when that happens the outer ring is easily moved back an forth tho.

FYI:

A 'solid' hub is a bad idea.

It wont absorb the harmonics put out by the crank bein hammered on

from combustion takin place goin thru the rpm range.

Leads to metal fatigue and crank failure.

The racing dampeners (Simpson and others) have an interlock design

that prevents the outer ring from moving out of alignment

if the rubber fails.

-Frank

[Bigfoot]

I really have no idea what possibly could have loosened it.

My initial thought was perhaps the outer ring of the balancer

seperated from the inner ring (ya, Bigfoot ..I know how they're made

-puzzled look- .. when that happens the outer ring is easily moved back an forth tho.

-Frank

Not really Frank. All it's done is shift a bit. It's still hard as hell to move even once it does deteriorate.

The entire steering rack has to come out in order to replace the balancer too. There is no way to pull the bolt or balancer off without doing so. Through the left side, once you loosen the the lower cross member that is. Maybe even "move" the radiator and condesor out of the way a little as well.

Did I mention you need a special tool to install the balancer as well. The generic ones won't do it. The threads in the crank are a at least 2-3" deep into the crank and your standard balancer install tool will not go that deep.

I'm sure you have a bad balancer, not a loose bolt.

[knkayotte]

Not an uncommon C5 issue. Had the same thing happen to mine. Did the job myself and threw in an under drive pulley while I was at it. Didn't trust putting in another GM crank pulley considering the PIA it is to change it out.

[Grayeagle]

'Not really Frank. All it's done is shift a bit. It's still hard as hell to move even once it does deteriorate.'

'easy' is relative

The balancers I have replaced

(small block chebbys, a few mopars, even a ford or 2 of '60's-'70's vintage)

..when I worked for Performance Associates out of Victorville

(usually due to the rubber being so dried out from a junkyard build

that the first few miles on a customer's new motor seperated the balancer)

(as Chad stated ..you can tell a customer what should be done, but most dont do it till it breaks)

..would wobble by pushin on the outer ring (motor stopped of course!)

..and would move in and out of alignment if pulled/pushed on equally from both sides.

Put together over a hundred motors in nearly a decade of buildin motors in SoCal.

-Frank (just sayin)

[Robert and Elizabeth]

So Frank, how did it turn out?