SHANE Posted June 20, 2002 Share Posted June 20, 2002 i have had this problem on two different motors and am hoping someone can shed some light on the situation. i will explain it as best i can. my problem is with the woodruff key for the crank dampner. a while ago on the first engine i had a hell of a time getting the dampner to tighten up. i removed it to see what was wrong and found that the woodruff key had rolled back out of the keyway and cracked the dampner in the process. the damn key fit so loose it would just fall out of the keyway. (i know they are supposed to fit tight) so with a puch, hammer and a bit of rage i got the key to fit semi tight. all seemed well and then after i removed that motor some time later i find that the damn new dampner had cracked again in the slot cut for the key. now here i am a year later and a different motor, i took the dampner off for the first time to test fit my euro dampner. sure as hell the stupid woodruff key falls out on its own! so i go to nissan and order a new woodruff key(5 of them). the new key fit a little tight so i test fitted the dampner and about half way it got really hard to turn the racthet. remembering what happened last time i stopped and removed the pulley. you guessed it the key had rolled back yet AGAIN. only this time i find that the key does not fit in the slot on the euro dampner. i checked and it fits fine in the old dampner just not the new one so now i have a euro dampner i can wipe my ass with and still have the woodruff key wanting to roll out of its home. i am going with the old dampner and am just waiting for nissan to get the rest of the keys in. anyone have any idea what i am doing wrong? do i really have TWO bad cranks? sorry for the long post, thanks in advance!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted June 20, 2002 Share Posted June 20, 2002 (I Maybe wrong but you have xtra keys)I would carefully file fit the top of the woodruff key to fit into the Euro Damper if the key is not visibly larger than the damper slot. I have had this problem with woodruff keys and file fitted them to match the tight fitting slot which happens to be the (your) Euro damper, Also you may need to file the top a little and bevel the ends of the key. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob_H Posted June 21, 2002 Share Posted June 21, 2002 I just installed the Euro damper on my 3.1, which had several Woodruff key issues. Rather than order new ones, I picked up a few from Z barn. They were a tight fit, and I tapped them down into the crank with a wooden block to ensure they were fully seated,(and more importantly, flat). I took a small metal file and lightly took the edges off. Last, I took a triangular and flat file and went at the euro damper. What I saw on my new damper was small metal casting/cutting remains. I made sure it was smooth all the way on sides and top, with a slight bevel on the back where it first encoutners the woodruff key. It was still a tight fit, but once it was started I used the bolt to tighten it down. As I started tightening the bolt, I would take a flathead screwdriver and place it on the end of the exposed part of the woodruff key and tap it back down. You can only do this for a short time before it is covered up, but it ensures a good fit and no walking. This has been my standard procedure after I ruined a set of woodruff keys and one damper. -Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHANE Posted June 21, 2002 Author Share Posted June 21, 2002 thanks for the help guys. time to go file away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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