How to properly remove dampener bolt?

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LovetheA's

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I’ve never tried to tackle many of the jobs that I’m attempting on my cars and I’m learning as I go along thanks to all the help from this website. I wanted to know how to remove the crank case bolt on my 383? I need to possibly get my cam out and send it off to my engine guy. I have a dampener puller and I understand that process. What I don’t know how to do is to remove the crankcase bolt. The car is up on jack stands and the heads intake carb are off the engine. From what I understand I should set the engine at TDC on the compression stroke(put finger over spark plug hole feel for pressure) when I take everything apart and put it back the same way. This would also line up with the two marks on the cam and crank when I pull the timing cover. How do I determine compression stroke when there are no heads on the motor? Should the piston in cylinder one be all the way at the top and the lifters be both at the same height meaning the exhaust and intake are closed for compression? How do I prevent the engine from moving when trying to get the crankcase bolt off? I don’t have an impact gun. Another thing I’m worried about is when removing the dampener I hear about people damaging the crank or the threads on the he crank. How do I set my dampener puller without doing this? It does have a small extension piece that is pointed at the top. Does that have to be perfectly centered on the crank away from the sides and threads? That is the last thing I want to do when pulling the dampener is damage the crank. Would it be best to just buy a correct tool for removing the dampener bolt and do it with the right equipment? Sorry about all the questions but I don’t want to ruin anything. That can get very expensive.
Carl
 
You could use a spacer with a dimple in it to protect the threads on the crank and yes you are correct about the lifters and finding TDC. You could use a piston stop to keep the engine from turning.
 
with the heads off you could bolt a bar across one of the pistons and use rags to prevent the piston from going over TDC and use a breaker bar to remove the damper bolt.
Once the bolt is out you can use your puller to remove the damper. the damper puller should NOT pull from the outer sides of the damper. it should use 2 or 3 bolt to the center of the damper. to protect the crank bolt hole and treads you can use the crank bolt. just screw it in all but a 1/2 inch and push on it. when you have moved the damper 1/2 inch rotate the bolt out another 1/2 inch and do it again repeat till its off. Alternately if you have something that will fit inside the crank treads and is a bit longer than the threads are deep you can use that.

Regarding the timing chain Ill defer to others. I have done a few timing chains bit not on a Mopar.
 
The crank shaft balancer bolt probably isn't that tight, even though a big bolt looks like it would be.
I almost never need more that my 1/2 drive breaker bar and a large hammer to give the handle a quick pop.
When you do it this way the sudden impact almost always get it loose because the crank is harder to move suddenly than the bolt is.
Hope I explained that ok. :D

On another note, you will never damage the threads in your crank if neither the puller shaft tip or the device you are pushing against with it is of a size capable of going inside the threaded area.

I have used nuts just smaller that the balancer opening, or washers to keep the tip of the puller shaft out of the threads, or even both with the washer/s on top of the nut.
A 3/8 drive 3/4 inch socket works also if you slip it over the sharp point of the puller shaft and use the back end of the socket to push against the crank end.
Whatever it takes to keep the shaft pressing on the flat end of the crank instead of going down into the area of the threads.
 
[QUOTE="TrailBeast,
I almost never need more that my 1/2 drive breaker bar and a large hammer to give the handle a quick pop.
[/QUOTE]
Farmers impact wrench:thumbsup:
 
Compressed air and an impact gun of some sort are pretty critical tools when working on engines and automobiles in general. You should have those.
 
I should mention that I also can see that on my dampener there is a groove that is marked and it lines up with zero on the timing tab on my timing cover. That also verifies that my piston is TDC on compression stroke correct? The issues with the piston stops are that they all appear to screw into the spark plug hole. I don’t have any heads on the motor. If I put a bar across the piston and bolt it down to the block I don’t think that will work with my engine. My compression on the engine was about 9.8 to 1 so the piston doesnt really go much over the top of the cylinder if I remember correctly. Therefore I don’t think that would work to remove the crankcase bolt? I could be wrong though but the pistons aren’t domed more like flat top. What if I put the car in gear and found something to go in between the flywheel teeth to stop the engine from turning. Would that work or would I risk damaging the flywheel?
 
I know that I should probably have an impact gun and an air compressor. I will in time but for now I live in a condominium with a one car garage and it’s very tight space wise. I plan on buying a house very soon but for now an impact gun and air compressor in a condo complex isn’t going to work. I was sick and tired of taking my car to people that could give a s**t that it is a classic and wouldn’t fix things properly and break things and short cut everything. So I said I’d had a enough and besides major engine rebuilds or paint and body I wanted to learn how to do things myself. I have to say it is a great sense of satisfaction knowing I did it and it’s done correct. I have a bit of OCD.
 
The more I think about it maybe I could put something in the cylinder on top of the piston even if the piston doesn’t go above the top. Maybe a thin piece of wood or something that would stop the engine from moving at all. I would just have to test different things to make sure that it won’t crank past TDC.
 
LovetheA's said:
I should mention that I also can see that on my dampener there is a groove that is marked and it lines up with zero on the timing tab on my timing cover. That also verifies that my piston is TDC on compression stroke correct? The issues with the piston stops are that they all appear to screw into the spark plug hole. I don’t have any heads on the motor. If I put a bar across the piston and bolt it down to the block I don’t think that will work with my engine. My compression on the engine was about 9.8 to 1 so the piston doesnt really go much over the top of the cylinder if I remember correctly. Therefore I don’t think that would work to remove the crankcase bolt? I could be wrong though but the pistons aren’t domed more like flat top. What if I put the car in gear and found something to go in between the flywheel teeth to stop the engine from turning. Would that work or would I risk damaging the flywheel?
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He said to shove a rag down the cylinder to take up the slack.
 
regarding the piston stop, I would advise not to use anything in the spark plug hole, especially for a B/RB engine, because those kind of piston stops are fairly fragile and not made for heavy loads, and the B/RB engine spark plug holes are almost right angles to the piston stroke, so it puts even more side load on the positive stop.. I like the suggestion of bolting a bar, or even a block of wood, across the top of the cylinder.
If you know anyone with a lathe, they could chuck the dampener bolt, and put a centering hole in the head of the bolt. It could literally take just a couple minutes to do.
It might pay to rent an electric impact gun. They only cost $150 new, and can't cost much to rent for an afternoon.
 
First, it's a crank SHAFT bolt. Do you have some money? One way around this is to buy a cheap impact at HF, and then get /rig an air tank like you fill up tires. For the short blast you need to loosen the bolt that would work fine. Another way would be to fabricate a special wrench that bolts on in place of the crank pulley. For all I know, somebody MAKES that tool

So far as "compression stroke" if you have the engine apart all you need do is look at the no1 and no6 valves with the engine at TDC. TDC WILL be when the cam marks are lined up, either 6 and 12 o'clock, or 12 and 12 o'clock. One will be no6 to fire, the other no1 to fire. Whicever set of valves are closed, 1 or 6, that one is firing. Rotate the crank 1 turn and the opposite one will be firing.

With the marks lined up "by the book" IE cam at 6 o'clock and crank at 12 o'clock, no6 will fire with most cam drives. "That's just the way it is"
 
Found this on the HAMB

image-jpg.jpg
 
67Dart273 said:
First, it's a crank SHAFT bolt. Do you have some money? One way around this is to buy a cheap impact at HF, and then get /rig an air tank like you fill up tires. For the short blast you need to loosen the bolt that would work fine. Another way would be to fabricate a special wrench that bolts on in place of the crank pulley. For all I know, somebody MAKES that tool

So far as "compression stroke" if you have the engine apart all you need do is look at the no1 and no6 valves with the engine at TDC. TDC WILL be when the cam marks are lined up, either 6 and 12 o'clock, or 12 and 12 o'clock. One will be no6 to fire, the other no1 to fire. Whicever set of valves are closed, 1 or 6, that one is firing. Rotate the crank 1 turn and the opposite one will be firing.

With the marks lined up "by the book" IE cam at 6 o'clock and crank at 12 o'clock, no6 will fire with most cam drives. "That's just the way it is"
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Hoose still too hot? Take a chill pill.
 
Is the engine still in the car? If so here's a cheap way. Get a 1/2" long breaker bar with the right size socket. Put it on the crank bolt and position the breaker bar so that it is almost up against the K frame on the passenger's side under the car. Remove the coil wire and bump the engine with the started and the starter will break the crank bolt loose very easily.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Is the engine still in the car? If so here's a cheap way. Get a 1/2" long breaker bar with the right size socket. Put it on the crank bolt and position the breaker bar so that it is almost up against the K frame on the passenger's side under the car. Remove the coil wire and bump the engine with the started and the starter will break the crank bolt loose very easily.
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Or first put the breaker bar on it and smack it with the palm of your hand.
Might be surprised at how easy some come off.

Never had to do it the way you described, but heck yea that would work.:D
Sometimes I'll use a metric socket if it fits just a bit tighter than a standard.
Kind of like a 14 is to a 9/16 only in larger sizes.
 
67Dart273 said:
So you don't think it's important to mention the carburetor when working on the ball joints? "Chill?" I don't need to chill
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You are right. It should be corrected. BUT... everybody knew what he was talking about.
 
There's s bunch of shade tree ways - I used to stick an extension in the bellhousing so it would jamb in place and stop the crank from turning. But, using a dead blow hammer on the breaker bar handle might be enough to jar it loose. I wouldn't use anything in the cylinders or on the pistons. I like that hose clamp idea if it works... And I've used RRRs starter trick although never needed it on a mopar... It works great on the GF's Hyundai...
 
Update on my attempt to remove the crankcase bolt. So I go online and think I’ll just buy the proper tool to do the job. I seen that Mancini has two tools to do this job. So I purchase and spring for the $40.00 bucks for both. Tonight I attempt to use the tool or tools to do the job. Then I realize they won’t work. How can they sell them if you can’t even begin to position them where they need to be? Please see attached photos.
Am I missing something or are they useless based on the location of the crankcase bolt and the recessed position of the bolts due to the the depth of the pulley wheel? I’m so frustrated. The reason I was pulling everything off was to get the cam out so my engine guy could cut a small groove in it for better oiling to my edelbrock performer rpm heads and my Harland sharp roller rockers. At this point I’m thinking it worked before with the same setup except iron 915 heads I don’t think I even have to worry about gettin the cam cut? It’s much more hassle then it’s worth I think. I’d love to get some opinions.
Carl

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0E6E6D5D-2E79-4D5C-8370-C1D47892ADA6.jpeg
 
I guess I could have a steel bar fabricated and use the cylinder head bolt holes. I could lay it across one cylinder to be a piston stop. That might be my only choice at this point. Unless someone knows of a correct tool for this. What did chrysler use back in the day to do this job if the engine was out of the car?
Carl
 
LovetheA's said:
I guess I could have a steel bar fabricated and use the cylinder head bolt holes. I could lay it across one cylinder to be a piston stop. That might be my only choice at this point. Unless someone knows of a correct tool for this. What did chrysler use back in the day to do this job if the engine was out of the car?
Carl
Click to expand...
Impact wrench.
 
Read post 17 again, but this time do it.
 
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