Cannot get harmonic balancer off

Hi and thanks for using 2CarPros.com.

If the bolts start bending, the pressure is not equal to all of them. Make sure they are the same distance into the balancer. I have experienced ones that are really tight as you described. You can either heat the balancer so it expands to see if that works, or I have actually put a lot of pressure on it with the puller and tapped it with a hammer to get it off.

Tapping it with a hammer worked!

Next problem: The tool somehow pressed in itself and pushed through the threads on the crank, so now the crank bolt cannot get itself started. Now what do we do? Buy a tap from Grainger?

Hello, I am Danny.

Yes, you will have to buy a tap and renew the threads. That crank pulley bolt needs to be torqued to 100 Ft lbs when reinstalled upon assembly. Hope this helps and thanks for using 2CarPros.
Danny-

I tapped a new thread in the crank. The new crank bolt goes in fine, but it only goes in maybe 1". The bolt is 2.25" long. Is this normal? The tap stopped at about 1" and just spun.

That is not normal. Were you able to make new threads as long as the bolt length?

The tap stopped at about 1" in before it just spun in place. With the balancer on, would it not be another 1" and the bolt would fit snugly? Or is the balancer going to be "flush" with the crank once pressed in?

There is a taper where the balancer and crank join. It should stop when it is in position.

You said the tap stopped at 1" before it just spun in place. Are the threads good? It sounds like they stripped.

Let me know.

The threads it made are good. It is a smaller than average crank bolt, so I am guessing everything else will be different too. I am thinking that once the balancer is on it will fill in the 1.25" in order to tighten it up.

Now that I think about it, I spun the tap some more and eventually I started turning the crank. That should mean that I have reached the end right? Which it is still quite odd given the measurements.

That is odd. If it was tight enough to turn the crank, it must have bottomed. Try putting it together to see if the threads you made are workable. There is a drift key on the crank so make sure everything is aligned.

I got everything together, and it seems like I was right-ish. The bolt fit snugly with the balancer and it threaded in and pressed it in a little bit after the tool I had stopped working and got too tight. Now, the aftermarket balancer has a little shield for the main seal, which is cool. But I'm unsure if the assembly is on all the way or if I've run out of threads. It feels like about 100 ft lbs but the bolt keeps turning. The shield on the balancer is maybe 1mm from meeting the engine. Is that sound like it's on good enough?

The truck started and ran great, and sounded great. I will just have this bolt spinning in the back of my head for a while.

Hello again.

Can you take a picture with your phone of the gap and upload it here for us to see? Also,With the new threads you made in the crank did you use Loctite brand thread locker? If the balancer wasn't seated/installed far enough in the one thing you would notice is that pulley mounted on the balancer if not situated right would throw off the alignment of the belts.You'd hear a squeak bad or it would throw the belt off.Also, if the balancer not seating in far enough the oil seal would leak.Hope this helps and thanks for using 2CarPros.
Danny-

I will have to wait for a picture, but the truck sounded great when it ran for twenty minutes. Like I said there's only a tiny bit of space, maybe 1mm before that shield for the seal touches the engine.

Hello again.
If you pound/install that balancer enough,It will seat and go no farther. Hope this helps and thanks again for using 2CarPros.
Danny-

Well, looks like I was just a little more worried and I should have been. I took the crank bolt back out, not being able to sleep without having it torqued to 135 ft lbs, and I put some loctite on it. I got back to the point where it got pretty tight, then it started gradually spinning. Turns out the balancer wasn't pressed in all the way, as my installer tool couldn't quite go that far. Eventually it did get tighter, and finally clicked at 135 ft. lbs. So, I suppose everything is done here - the truck still runs great now that this is fixed.

Good deal!
Thanks again for using 2Carpros.
Danny-