Just received my tool today. Excellent product, very professional looking! All of my co-workers (R&D company) can't believe this tool wasn't special ordered from one of the major tool manufacturers! Thanks 618HAWK!
__________________ 99 Hawk T/A NBM
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Proud to be a part of VA Speed www.virginiaspeed.com
Excuse me if I’m missing the point, and 618HAWK, please don’t feel that I’m taking anything away from your ingenuity, BUT (the big “but”):
I’m not sure that I really get it. Yea, it lets you draw the damper onto the crank without putting as much of a load on the crank threads, which is a good thing, but all-thread is not a great way to do it, it’s roughly the strength of grade 0 or at most 2 hardware but the threads are usually cut, not rolled so they’re not even that strong, and not intended for this kind of stress. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if after a bunch of uses that rod doesn’t end up munching a set of crank threads anyway from just not having the strength to last in that kind of application (real world, you’ll probably get lucky and you’ll just munch up the threads on the all thread and nut on the other end).
Secondly, all this noise about it needing a bearing… well, I guess in a nice, perfect world maybe something like a sealed thrust bearing would be cleaner then the alternative, but 2 washers with some grease with an extreme pressure additive in it would be plenty (normal chassis or bearing grease would actually be fine, something like an assembly lube with moly would be ideal).
While on that subject, in most metals it takes 3 (steel…) to 5(aluminum) threads engagement to get the full holding strength of a set of threads, IF you were going to use a bolt to draw the balancer on, if you coated the threads with an appropriate grease and made sure that it was long enough that you got reasonable thread engagement you will actually, real world have a more reliable way of performing the task (of course, this tool still has the advantage that when it does fail it will most likely fail in a way that will not hurt the threads in the crank where using a longer bolt will if something fails)
Finally, Hawk, it looks like you’re welding some normal zinc plated hardware… I hope that you’re stripping that zinc with something before you do the welding since the gasses produced when welding anything zinc plated will get you quite sick with heavy metal poisoning.
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Mark aka: Silverback, WS6 TA, JYDog, 83 Crossfire TA, mpikas, mmp...
Excuse me if I’m missing the point, and 618HAWK, please don’t feel that I’m taking anything away from your ingenuity, BUT (the big “but”):
I’m not sure that I really get it. Yea, it lets you draw the damper onto the crank without putting as much of a load on the crank threads, which is a good thing, but all-thread is not a great way to do it, it’s roughly the strength of grade 0 or at most 2 hardware but the threads are usually cut, not rolled so they’re not even that strong, and not intended for this kind of stress. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if after a bunch of uses that rod doesn’t end up munching a set of crank threads anyway from just not having the strength to last in that kind of application (real world, you’ll probably get lucky and you’ll just munch up the threads on the all thread and nut on the other end).
Secondly, all this noise about it needing a bearing… well, I guess in a nice, perfect world maybe something like a sealed thrust bearing would be cleaner then the alternative, but 2 washers with some grease with an extreme pressure additive in it would be plenty (normal chassis or bearing grease would actually be fine, something like an assembly lube with moly would be ideal).
While on that subject, in most metals it takes 3 (steel…) to 5(aluminum) threads engagement to get the full holding strength of a set of threads, IF you were going to use a bolt to draw the balancer on, if you coated the threads with an appropriate grease and made sure that it was long enough that you got reasonable thread engagement you will actually, real world have a more reliable way of performing the task (of course, this tool still has the advantage that when it does fail it will most likely fail in a way that will not hurt the threads in the crank where using a longer bolt will if something fails)
Finally, Hawk, it looks like you’re welding some normal zinc plated hardware… I hope that you’re stripping that zinc with something before you do the welding since the gasses produced when welding anything zinc plated will get you quite sick with heavy metal poisoning.
I'm not a mechanical engineer so I can't speak to the thread engagement theory and I do know that thread-all is not known for its strength, BUT (there is always a but) I recently bought one of these tools from 618HAWK and it worked flawlessly. I threaded the long bolt in to the crank until it bottomed, then backed it out 1 full turn with a light coat of 30w motor oil on the threads, and some liberal greasing (supplied with the tool) to both faces of the washer. A coat of the same 30w oil on the crank snout and the new timing cover seal and with out any herculean efforts, binding, gouging, 4' long pipes, BFH (big F$&*ing hammers), stripped threads (in the crank or on the tool), busted knuckles or any other surprises the balancer was installed on the crank.
The tool flat out works and for the price you would be hard pressed to recreate the tool yourself without having 2 extra feet of of metric thread-all lying around, 11 extra specialty washers and a tube of extreme pressure lubricant. If you install a balancer and damage crank threads because you didn't use this tool, you almost deserve it (almost).
This tool is sweet piece and the price makes it even sweeter, but the fact that it works flawlessly, makes it a must have tool for anyone working on LSx based motors...Not knocking the kent moore tool or the snap tool, but I'm sure they are way more expensive....And I'm not taking a shot at Silverback either, but sometimes theory gives way to real world experience.
I'm a do it you self guy and this tool will be in my roll-away for a long time. Hell I could probably rent it out and make the purchase price back...hahahah.....(I wouldn't do that!)
Chris Ciatteo
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Chris
99 Firebird (The driver)
70 Nova (The toy)
97 2500 Ext. Cab 4x4 LWB CTD (The Earthmover)
Just used the tool and all I can say is its perfect!!, Made the dreaded crank pulley install one of the easiest parts of the cam swap!! Money WELL spent!!
Thanks to Chris for his assistance in completing the transaction and for promptly shipping the tool. It appears to be engineered thoughtfully and the finish is impressive. Having such items readily available saves time and money when the projects are stacking up.
