Crank Pulley Bolt Fun

[Andydodge]

Well, after I had finally discovered the source of the front engine noise......the crank pulley, which I assumed to be a worn crankkey and/or keyway as the pulley had some movement side to side, I finally decided to get at it.........removed the radiator, oh joy.......a 1 & 13/16th bolt in the centre of the pulley........finally got a cobbled together 3/4 drive socket, adapter to my 1/2" drive tools and jammed the breaker bar against the chassis, one kick with the starter(coil lead removed) and the bolt was loose!!.......undid it and bolted the custom made puller to the pulley, wound it in and YES!!.....the pulley was moving out and removed it.......BUT........the keyway has no wear, the key is brand new!!.........ah, I see the problem.......lol........the eight rivets that hold the crankhub to the front pulley have seen better days.......lots of movement between the two......have decided to use 5/16th UNF button head cap screws from the engine side into the crankhub(which will be tapped for 5/16UNF) with lots of Locktight...........the question is..........has anyone ever had these rivits come loose????? what did you do?........I don't know of any local way to get another pulley so have decided to repair this one........any comments?.....andyd

[KJ's Dodge]

Yesterday, I discovered that I lost my lower dual drive pulleys on the crank of the engine. Obviously, loose thus the negitive amps earlier in the week but now the bolts or rivets are fully sheared off. I found the two lower pulley resting on the cross member below the shroud and stopped the truck before it heated up to high. Waited four hours for it to cool down and drove it the same distance home stopping as the temp gauge peeked at 212.

So, were all the pulleys attached with rivets? Mine is a heavy Dodge Truck (1948 B1 RA 172) with two fan belts. If you bolted the pulley(s) in place instead of riveting it, what size bolts did you use? Did you use washers, lock washers and Lock-tite on the threads?

Thanks,

KJ

Edited September 2, 2010 by KJ's Dodge

[Andydodge]

KJ.......gotta get to work but will get back with more info tonite...............andyd

[KJ's Dodge]

Thanks Andy. The trucks moved to bolts and a vibration damper in 50-51 and before that all of them were rivets. I am still interested to see how you secured your pulley.

Since mine was rivets in place, I should be able to easily press them out. I could tap the holes easy enough and then secure it with bolts. Additionaly, it probably wouldn't hurt to tack weld it in place once it is centered and secured with the bolts.

KJ

[Andydodge]

Back now...KJ, what I found was that the button head cap screws had to have their haeds ground down about 1mm off the circumferance, this was after I had already drilled and tapped the holes in the actual hub, then the cap screws/bolts were used with locktite...........I had thought about welding the hub to the pulley but decided against it as it was a bit "rough".............lol.........if I was doing this again I'd certainly just centre the hub & pulley to each other and tack weld them together........with good penetration and making the welds equidistant to each other it would be fine, I'd just hammer/press each rivet together to take up any slack in the holes and weld the sucker, the bolt idea was good but more trouble than I think it was worth........over engineered.......lol...............andyd

[KJ's Dodge]

Andy,

Thanks for the insight. I am digging in to it today.

I will still do both while I am at it (bolt and weld).

Overbuilt is better than under built in my book of

engineering too!

KJ

[Andydodge]

If I ever have to do something like this again, I'll just weld the two, much simplier........lol..........andyd

[KJ's Dodge]

I got my crank shaft dual pulley back together eariler this evening. The belts would not go on to the generator pulley even when the generator was up against the block, so I took off the fan and its pulley to get the new belts on. The old rivets were worn half way through before they give away. The rivets were only 15/64 inch.

I replaced them with a 5/16 inch grade 8 bolts after drilling and tapping the holes that once held the rivets firmly. A little larger diameter and the ability to snug them up tight hopefully will make them last. I used grade 8 flat and lock washers to and hit the treads with Locktite. Here is some pics of my work.

Edited September 14, 2010 by KJ's Dodge

[Andydodge]

Looks like its o/k........btw what year is the car?......the front engine mount is not one I've seen b4.......andyd

[Frank Elder]

He's got a big ole grain truck with a flat bed Andy.

[KJ's Dodge]

Andy,

Frankie is right on. I have a heavy Dodge truck, 1948 B1 RA 172 with one of the huge Moly Block with dual carbs, dual exhaust, dual fan belts, 12 ports, 7 main bearings and casted in chrome nickel molybdenum iron. They are really rare and much larger than the car or smaller comparable truck power plants. Pics compliments of Bob (Dodgeb4ya). Your block would be like the Plymouth 230 pictured on the left and mine similar to the block on the right.

KJ

Edited September 14, 2010 by KJ's Dodge

[Andydodge]

KJ..........o/k you win the prize..........lol.........btw love the exhaust straight out thru the hood...........not playing games there!!.........lol....................andyd