22RE with wallered out crankshaft slot

[turbocruiser]

Hi folks, have a friend with a 22RE in a 86 4Runner. He recently had his harmonic balancer break right where the woodruff key on the crankshaft connects to the balancer and pulley. The slot for the key on the crankshaft itself is incredibly mauled out. I would like to listen to any advice y'all have on this and I will pass it on to him. If it requires a rebuilt replacement engine, any suggestions on where to go? Thank you.

 

[Cable Guy]

If that is the only problem with the motor I think I would put on a new HB and tack weld it to the crank in a couple spots, grind it flush and put the bolt back in. Worst case scenario you would have to grind the welds off to remove the balancer. If you put a new front seal in it you shouldn't have to worry about it for years.

 

[turbocruiser]

Well, my friend decided to do the ghetto approach and gooped up the crankshaft slot with some 3M epoxy and put on a replacement harmonic balancer! Not the approach I would have wanted but what the hell, he is on the road again. Sheesh, some people huh?!?

 

[Poser]

Will probably be just fine....

 

[turbocruiser]

Yea, it probably will be fine, but, just for argument's sake, as I see it, there are only two options now: either the "fix" breaks sometime in the future and then he will have the same problem plus he will have that crap all over the crankshaft which will make future repairs much worse, OR, the "fix" never breaks and then he can never get the damn thing off for other future repairs! I think four tack welds evenly spaced on the front surface of the harmonic balancer and the crankshaft would have been much better and I offered to weld the thing for him but he took another approach. Well, I'll hope him the best, and I'll pray for whoever purchases the thing from now on! Anyway, thanks for the responses. For All!