That feeling you get when you're trying to reinstall your harmonic balancer and you torque the bolt off in the crank....




So I've gotten a hole drilled in the bolt and tried an ez-out, but I'm just rounding off the end of the ez-out...
Any other suggestions?

 

Like this.

 

Can you post up photos of the original bolt, side view and view of the bolt head.

 

They make tap sockets for that.

But if you're having to work it that hard consider that breaking the ez out will be even worse.

Using a torch or penetrant with that ?

 

See, what had happened was....
The original bolt isn't long enough to get started when reinstalling the HB, so I picked up a 1/2-20x2" bolt from Lowes and used that the get the balancer pushed back on. Dumb me didn't notice that the bolt had bottomed out in the hole in the crank (had a pretty big cheater bar) and I twisted it off, flush with the snout of the crank.

 

Replacement wasn't a grade 8 bolt was it.

 

If you use the right size ez out then a 3/8" 12 point socket will fit. Tapping the harmonic balancer back on with a hammer or using a rubber mallet was another method. The keyway should be clean. A few drops of light oil or antiseize would've helped too. The bolt idea isn't bad, but washers or something to help draw it in would be an improvement.

 

Bottomed & snapped?
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you'll probably be drilling out the remains and tapping new threads. If the crankshaft is out it will make everything a whole lot nicer.

ETA:
Are you sure that's the correct part? It shouldn't require a bulldozer to re-install.

 

No grade 8 bolt available in that size. Used grade 5.
Everything was clean and greased. Using a mallet still didn't buy me enough room to get the bolt started.
Napa says it's right : 6005229
Gonna try some things. At this point, taking it out of the motor is a non starter. Thanks for the suggestions - I'll keep y'all updated

 

Nothing unusual about using a longer bolt to get it started and no reason grade 8 should be required. I came way too close to doing the exact same thing on my '85 2.5 a long time ago. I don't know "how" close but I spent way more than a few minutes shuddering at the thought of what could have happened.

 

I've had pretty good luck using a nut a little larger than the bolt dia. and welding the broken bolt and nut.
Hold the nut over the broken bolt, fill with weld, allow a little time for the heat to transfer to the part it's screwed into (crankshaft)
It may take a few tries/ nuts.

 

Unfortunately I am without a welder. I pulled the HB off and I've got a 1/4" hole through the bolt. Unfortunately, it's not quite centered, due to how big my drill is and how close this cross-member is.

 

 

I would try the larger ex-out No. 4 ? that requires a 17/64 or 19/64 drilled hole, centered does not matter. If that does not work, I would tow it or have someone come over. The crankshaft is at risk here. You want to get that bolt out without removing the engine or the crank.

 

Getting there! Almost to the point of needing a tap :-)