Crank gear not seated.

nm9stheham said

I would not ever use anything to tap or hammer it in place. The thrust bearing has to take the hammering load and you don't want to damage that and have other issues; the thrust faces are soft. Use a 3/4"x16TPI bolt to draw it down; get a 1.5" and a 2" bolt and you can use it on the damper too. A big washer under the bolt head pushing on a short piece of pipe as Bob mentions will push the sprocket on.

Also, use some fine wetordry sandpaper or crocous cloth to smooth the crank snout and that will help.

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That depends on the hammer size, because it has to move the entire crankshaft quite hard to hurt the thrust surfaces.
Not totally dissing what you are saying there, but a hammer less than 16 0z isn't going to move the crankshaft much, if at all.

Example:
Put the end of a crankshaft close to a wall and put your hand between the end of the crank and the wall, then hit the other end of the crank HARD with a 16oz hammer and see how your hand feels about that.

I'd put my hand in there and let you hit that crank as hard as you wanted.
It's not going to hurt you, because it has to move the entire weight of the crankshaft enough to do it, and it just won't.

I sure wouldn't let you use a 3lb hammer though. :D