[s-cars] Crank Bolt From Hell (lessons learned)

[Southerlin, Russell S]

Tom,
The tranny was in neutral so any stress transmitted through the clutch
would be from the mass of the tranny gears, clutch and such.  It dis not
appear that much of the "torque" was getting transmitted through the
tranny as I could hold the harmonic balancer from rotating relatively
easy by hand.  I can see where the impact hammering could potentially
affect rod bearings and such.

I was wondering myself if the gun may have cracked the key.  The impact
only puts torque into the head of the bolt and very little into the key
IMO, where the conventional tool is reacting the torque through the
harmonic balancer and potentially into the keyway.  I believe the forces
on the keyway are much greater with the tools vs. the impact.  Maybe the
impact has other negative side affects but I still think a sheared key
is less likely with the impact.

Maybe the thing to do would be to try the conventional tool up to about
600ft-lbs and if it does not budge then do the impact.

Russ


-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Mullane [mailto:tmullane at snet.net]
Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2005 5:52 PM
To: Southerlin, Russell S
Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: RE: [s-cars] Crank Bolt From Hell (lessons learned)


Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2005 17:20:09 -0700
From: "Southerlin, Russell S" <russell.s.southerlin at lmco.com>
Subject: [s-cars] Crank Bolt From Hell (lessons learned)
To: s-car-list at audifans.com
Message-ID:
	<3352E03FC741BB4E97EDB6991C8DC44105CB1A83 at emss02m18.us.lmco.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1


Russ, 

Sounds like a fun time.

I disagree with you about the impact gun.  The gun is tough on the
clutch,
trans, and possibly the rod bearings.  Sometimes ya gotta do what ya
gotta
do to get things apart, but the impact is a last resort for me.  I
wonder if
the key was cracked by the impact gun?  I've seen them damaged, but
usually
when the bolt is too loose - obviously not an issue in your case ;-)

Tom


<snip>
Now for the lessons learned.  I believe the safest way to remove the
crank
bolt is the impact wrench.  I believe if I had continued to apply more
torque to the bolt with a bigger breaker bar it would have sheared off
the
keyway and possibly spun the crank - not a good day no matter how you
look
at it.  Next time I will acquire a 3/4 inch impact by renting or
borrowing.
The impact only applies the force right at the bolt head and it is not
reacted through the harmonic balancer and keyway.  The proper tool
(3056?
tool) or my home made tool reacts the torque through the harmonic
balancer
and keyway which is not designed to take 800ft-lbs.

<snip>

Russ
95.5 S6
Castle Rock, CO