This is purely a "help" for people looking to put the balancer back on correctly, and avoiding the dreaded stripped crank threads. This also saves you from buying a very expensive $150 balancer installer.

"Whats needed??"7/16 - 20 threaded rod grade 8 or higher such as B7.

As you have probably searched around your local Home Depot or Lowes or even AceHardware, you'll be hard pressed to find a bolt long enough in this size. What you actually need is a threaded rod.

"Why a threaded rod??"
Because is long and you can sink the rod all the way to the base of the crank threaded hole.. giving you more thrength to pull the balancer on

"Why not use the balancer bolt to pull it on??"Because if you try and install the balancer with the balancer bolt, you will only be able to get about 2-3 turns of the bolt before you hit the balancer. 2-3 threads is not enough because the force needed to pull the balancer on is strong, and you WILL strip those threads doing this.. dont do it.

Tools needed and where to get them
as stated above, you need a 7/16 -20 threaded rod.. meaning 7/16", 20 thread count, also known as "fine thread".

You can get this rod at www.mcmaster.com or use this link http://www.mcmaster.com/#92580a110/=byahla

cost is only $4.70 for a 3 foot rod. they only sell it in a 3 foot rod. The shipping was only $5.15 so for just under $10 you get a 3 foot rod. Shipping was pretty fast, I ordered it on Friday and it was here via UPS on Tuesday.

2nd, you need only 1, 7/16-20 nut, you can order it there or this actually can be easily found in your local hardware store or Home Depot.

3rd, several washers ranging in size from a small 7/16" all the way to a 3/4" washer. I used about 8 -10 washers.

Cost, i spent $3.28 for the nut and 6 washers, i already had a few at home.

Now that you have your rod, you can place you hub on the end of the crank and insert the rod and screw it all the way in till it stops. Or you can do what i did, and take a cutoff wheel and cut the rod in half, easier to manage but not needed.

Then, place all the washers you have starting with largest 1st against the hub, to smallest against the nut. The outside diameter of the nut is 11/16 and you need a box end wrench.

see picture below on how it should look



Now you have it set up to push the hub on from the very front, instead of having a short stubby rod and having to use a long 11/16 socket. This also saves you from having to get a certain size washer to fit into the hub.:bang:

Now that you have it set up, start turning the nut clockwise (towards the left), this will push the nut against the washers and starts to slowly push the hub onto crank.


about half way on. you should NOT have to use much force to turn the nut.



Upclose shot of the washers and nut


turn the nut until the hub comes to a complete stop. When you have to excert a lot more force than normal, your hub is probably seated now, to make sure, look at the hub and make sure the 1st line in the hub is now into the timing cover.

you're now done with the rod, back off the nut counter clockwise (turn left) and unscrew the rod, you should be able to do this by hand.

Now insert your crank bolt with its washer and torque to 74ftlbs.

Hope this helps.







***disclaimer*** this is purely made as a "help thread". Any damage you do to your vehicle is your responsibility and I am in no way liable for it. User take caution.

 

Just like a proper SBC balancer install procedure. Having the proper tool for the job makes it a cake walk

 

I think I did something similar but it was years ago so its a blurry in memory. Used a somewhat long 7/16-20 bolt though with washers and installed everything while the engine was in the car on both a thirdgen and a 4thgen. I was able to find a long enough bolt at one of the hardware stores. I might have got the information from ls1tech, camaroz28.com or some website like that.

 

careful - this method is meant to do away with the longer bolt idea. with a bolt, you run the risk of stripping threads in the crank while trying to install the balancer. this method leaves the threaded rod stationary and puts the stress on the nut - no risk of damaging the crank.

I used the threaded rod method on my LS1 balancers multiple times without issue.

 

exactly... which is the reason for this "how to"

some people have PM'd me asking

"What if i need to install the balancer while the engine is in the car?"

i cover this earlier in the section, but

what you do is take an eyeball measure.. you can use about 10-12" of the 3 foot rod.. cut it with a cut off wheel. very easy to do. i dont recommend using a manual metal saw, as you will continually jump threads and you move back and forth, damaging the end of the rod.

 

obviously what the previous owner of my LT1 should've done. He did end up stripping all the threads out.

 

Hey Killj0y was your hub "keyed?"

 

good question, cant remember that..

 

LT1s use the same crank as 1pc RMS SBCs and are keyed

The long bolt method is acceptable if you truly get a really long bolt with lots of threads. Use the head to hold the bolt from turning while another nut/washers presses the hub on

 

The hub I got from a guy from a 96 Camaro SS isn't keyed. I was kinda bummed. I ordered a Pioneer keyed hub. I'll feel better knowing it won't slip

At least the balancer was good though

 

I snapped the rod as I forgot to back it out every so often as it bottomed out. trying to get the rod out of the crank was fun tho

 

Yeah come to think of it, my engine is a 96 too, a d I don't remember it being keyed, I remember lining it up manually

 

??? Ummm, you have been doing it wrong, all you do is bottom out the bolt then turn the 1st bolt clockwise, there should be no backing out needed, just make sure to use 5+ washers to reduce friction on the bolt to hub contact.

 

i did bottom it out but when it did it didnt want to turn for some reason so I backed it out abit then when I hit the bottom on the last time it decided to snap off. Where it bottomed out looks flattened as the threads are flat. Next time im doin the same thing accept im making the bottom of it a fraction thinner and to a point. Just so it will bottom out properly

 

This rod is apparently not as cheap to make any more. And yes, I realize the thread is many years old now.

McMasterCarr no longer sells a grade 8 threaded rod, and i couldn't find one on Fastenal.

Found a place that has it finally.

But then I bought a $12 steel sleeve, and a $4 radial bearing. And All told I think I ended up with about $40 invested.

Ugh. Here's to installing a Hub.

 

Tools aren't cheap

 

You don't really need grade 8 for this tool, the grade 5 stuff will work fine