Seating a crank pulley

[Marble]

Ever since I have had the 8 rib set up on my car I have had nothing but belt issues. I'm so fucking tired of changing and buying belts. When I had the 6 rib, I had no issues at all.

Kit was not installed by me. I have checked everything for tightness and watched the pulleys moving and cannot see a broken or damaged pulley.

I thought it may have been the AC pulley being out of alignment because the belt would jump teeth. I replaced the AC with a delete pulley and bracket and it seemed to get better but now it's doing something else.

Currently the belt jumps rearward on the crank pulley (dampener) when I start it and then goes back into place when I turn the car off. I've got a 2 foot long metal straight edge and have confirmed everything but the crank pulley is in alignment. So my question is, when seating the crank pulley is there a depth it needs to be set at or does it just bottom out against the crank? I'm thinking my crank needs to be seated deeper but then again I have never pulled one.

I cannot tell you how many belts I have purchased, broken and shredded since I got the car back.

 

[BruceH]

Ever since I have had the 8 rib set up on my car I have had nothing but belt issues. I'm so fucking tired of changing and buying belts. When I had the 6 rib, I had no issues at all.

Kit was not installed by me. I have checked everything for tightness and watched the pulleys moving and cannot see a broken or damaged pulley.

I thought it may have been the AC pulley being out of alignment because the belt would jump teeth. I replaced the AC with a delete pulley and bracket and it seemed to get better but now it's doing something else.

Currently the belt jumps rearward on the crank pulley (dampener) when I start it and then goes back into place when I turn the car off. I've got a 2 foot long metal straight edge and have confirmed everything but the crank pulley is in alignment. So my question is, when seating the crank pulley is there a depth it needs to be set at or does it just bottom out against the crank? I'm thinking my crank needs to be seated deeper but then again I have never pulled one.

I cannot tell you how many belts I have purchased, broken and shredded since I got the car back.

Some of the balancers have a very tight bore and the only way to seat it all the way is to boil in water prior to installation. All of my aftermarket balancers have required this treatment with the exception of IW.

It should be fairly easy to verify if the crank pulley/balancer is installed all the way. It can only go on so far. If the crank and pulley surfaces are flush then the balancer is on as far as it can go.

I've never had a setup that shredded belts and that includes two homemade 8 rib setups. One was used with a Whipple and one with a Paxton.

IMO you have the right idea, something is out of alignment. Hopefully it's something that will stick out for easy diagnosis.

Good luck!

 

[Marble]

So if I understand you correctly, I look where the crank pulley goes onto the crank and confirm they are flush. If not, then...I guess I pull and reseat?

I don't want to spend any money on it since I plan on ditching it when I swap set ups. But that's a ways down the road.

 

[BruceH]

So if I understand you correctly, I look where the crank pulley goes onto the crank and confirm they are flush. If not, then...I guess I pull and reseat?

I don't want to spend any money on it since I plan on ditching it when I swap set ups. But that's a ways down the road.

That is how they typically locate, off of the crank snout itself. The bolt can only drive the pulley to the end of the crank.

The only way to tell for sure is to pull the crank bolt. Be aware that the factory part is tty and one time use. If you have the arp bolt it can be reused.

I've used a number of aftermarket sfi rated balancers and most are undersized imo. Some even state in the directions to heat in boiling water for a minimum time prior to installation.

I'd suggest leather gloves for handling it after heating if you end up going this route.

 

[eighty6gt]

Bruce did you bore the center hub to suit the crank?

 

[BruceH]

Bruce did you bore the center hub to suit the crank?

No, having a part that needs to be heated for installation is a benefit for a crank driven supercharger. It makes double keying not necessary (like it ever was, the key is for location purposes but that's another issue).

I've always been able to get the slightly undersize balancers on by boiling them in water.

 

[702GT]

I went with the ATI Super Damper and the ATI 8 rib blower to crank pulley piggy-back to match when I put the Procharger on. The ATI damper is a slick piece, also use a ARP crank bolt with it. Installed per instructions, no fuss. Went on like a champ, have not had 1 issue with the whole pulley setup.

Whenever I install a crank pulley, I use the install bolt my Steeda UDP came with to get the pulley started, as soon as I can use the ARP bolt, I take it in the rest of the way with that. You can tell by feel when the pulley is fully seated, as the torque needed to turn the crank bolt goes way up. I always back the bolt off and then snug it back up, then apply ARP's torque spec to it (100 ft/lbs I think). I come back to the crank bolt and hit it with a torque wrench at spec again after I've I put a hot drive on the car, just to make sure nothing "settled" or backed off.

Was the 8 rib pulley swap done as part of a kit or individual pulley swap? I had a friend with a 2000 GT running a V2SQ who decided to save some money and order 8 rib pulleys himself rather than buy the 8 rib kit. He also had chewed through a few belts, even threw one before we found the pulley that was mucking up his fun. Turned out to be the pulley on his tensioner arm had a slightly different groove spacing than the pulley before & after the tensioner. You could watch the tensioner pulley put a random vibration on the belt. As the tensioner arm would extend during WOT, I could only imagine this vibration was both the cause of his belts getting chewed up, and probably as the arm retracted/extending between WOT shifts, it was likely running off a groove randomly. Was the only logic I could put behind it. Either way I think we ended up swapping that pulley for one that was supposed to go on a 5.4 F150, as it had the proper spacing in the groove pattern. He didn't have any issues with belts after that as far as I know.

Hope some, if any, of this helped. I feel for your frustration.

 

[01yellerCobra]

When I did the 8 rib swap on my 01 I lined everything up to the crank pulley. The only one I didn't adjust was the A/C. But that's because I couldn't move it. But everything else needed spacers to get lined up.

 

[Marble]

So I think my dampener is bad. I started looking at from the front and then crawled underneath and looked at the back. You can see where the inner hub is separating from the outer hub. I snapped some photos and have been trying to upload them but I cant get photobucket to work on my computer.

So now I need to source a new 8 rib pulley for my car. Stock size only 8 rib.

 

[Marble]

Here are the pics.

 

[01yellerCobra]

That doesn't look good. I think I have an 8 rib pulley in my spare parts.

 

[Marble]

I might just have to swing a deal with you. Looking for stock diameter.

 

[BruceH]

IIRC a Navigator pulley is 8 rib and will line up. A stock sized IW or ATI should work.

 

[AbdullaGT500]

Looks like someone used a 3 jaw style puller on the outside of it to pull it and it came apart.

 

[o2sys]

I use the harmonic balancer removal tool which looks like a smaller version of the axle puller.

The HB has the bolt holes that the bolts go in and pulls it evenly.

I then installed the IW balancer using another tool that lets your turn a big nut while holding a big ass bolt in place.

Once it's about 1/4" away from the timing cover I just use final crank bolt to seat it all the way.

 

[Marble]

IIRC a Navigator pulley is 8 rib and will line up. A stock sized IW or ATI should work.

Thanks Bruce. I've got a few guys here that offered me their spare part in their garage. I think I could probably pick ones up for $50 plus the ride.

My hesitation is if I should go with an SFI version. Rules require it, my track hasn't asked about it yet. I just wonder if putting the same part back on, not designed to be spun at 7k rpms, on a 2 step, from a transbrake. Not to mention the force of the shifts. This 4r really lets you know the difference between first and second.

Also, if and when I get to pull the blower off and go with the turbo, I'll have to decide if I'm going to stay with the 8 rib or go back to a 6.

I think I'm just going to wait until after Christmas. I got too much going on already.

 

[BruceH]

Thanks Bruce. I've got a few guys here that offered me their spare part in their garage. I think I could probably pick ones up for $50 plus the ride.

My hesitation is if I should go with an SFI version. Rules require it, my track hasn't asked about it yet. I just wonder if putting the same part back on, not designed to be spun at 7k rpms, on a 2 step, from a transbrake. Not to mention the force of the shifts. This 4r really lets you know the difference between first and second.

Also, if and when I get to pull the blower off and go with the turbo, I'll have to decide if I'm going to stay with the 8 rib or go back to a 6.

I think I'm just going to wait until after Christmas. I got too much going on already.

Spend the money and go sfi rated. IMO it's better for the motor not to mention it shouldn't explode at higher rpms.

 

[702GT]

My vote still goes to ATI Super Damper. Best money I've spent for peace of mind. I'm sure IW will do the job, too.

 

[Marble]

I hate you guys...At least I'm making some overtime this month for some play money.

 

[TexasBlownV8]

Also, if and when I get to pull the blower off and go with the turbo, I'll have to decide if I'm going to stay with the 8 rib or go back to a 6.

I'm using a IW 8-rib stock diameter, which I was using with my KB, but now using with turbos. Since the alternator and a/c and p/s are also 8-rib, I opted to leave it all in as-is. And as mentioned, the IW is SFI rated.

Since I'm also using an electric water pump, I also bypassed the water pump pulley altogether; the extra width of the 8-rib belt has no slip, even without going around the water pump. Of course it's a shorter length, like 1" +/- a stock v6 length.


Glad you found your pulley issue. The last ATI I put on someone else's car was a real bitch to get on all the way.