1976 Cadillac Deville crankshaft balancer removel

[1976Deville]

Thanks for the help with the vacuum lines.
Now I have a other question.
I have to remove the crankshaft balancer.to replace the timing chain. In the book it says remove plug from end of crankshaft. What plug??
And how hart is it to get the balancer off.
Thanks Herbert

[savemy67]

Hello Herbert,

Many crankshafts have a threaded hole at the front which is used to remove and replace the balancer.  The hole is usually plugged with a cork.  The cork may be painted, so it is difficult to see that it is a separate part.  The balancer may or may not be difficult to remove.  It depends on the level of corrosion, how much access you have to the area, and if you have the proper tools.  If you search this forum, you should find other posts that describe balancer removal for your engine.  Good luck.

Christopher Winter

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

G'day Herbert,

Yes, you will need a puller, and a good one at that, as these Harmonic Balancers are a press-fit. 

What ever you do, DO NOT USE a three-fingered puller on the outside edge.

You need a flat flange puller with holes in it so you can thread bolts into the hub in the threads that the pullies used.     The one I made up is using what was left of a cheap one the broke, actually stripped the thread, and all I used from it was the point.   Plus, the many holes come from using it on many different engines, requiring many alterations.

Then use the centre bolt of the puller to pull it off.

What I do is put a 9/16" UNF bolt in the hole, for the puller to press on to protect the crankshafts' internal thread.

Bruce.

[Phil Weber]

Hi Herbert

Here is a picture of the factory puller . As Bruce said place a bolt in the crankshaft nose to protect the threads .

To replace the puller you could use a long bolt or , as I did , use a threaded rod . The 3 big washers act like a bearing .

I must admit , before I had the factory puller , I cheated and used a 3 jaw hydraulic puller .

Phil

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Gee, I do have a short term memory problem.   I sheer forgot that the harmonic balancer bolts on with the pulleys, so a three jaw puller would do.

Bruce.

["Cadillac Kid" Greg Surfas 15364]

The Kent Moore (factory designed) puller/installer set makes the task a 5 minute job with NO busted knuckles or bent parts.
Greg Surfas

[1976Deville]

Thank you for all the great answers . I thought someone told me before that the hole is plugged with a piece of cork. just was not 100% sure.

[bcroe]

A close look reveals plenty of cracks in the plastic around the cam
sprocket.  Complete failure can't be too far away; good to have this
stuff replaced.  Bruce Roe

[1976Deville]

Hi bcroe.
Picture 1 or 2???

[bcroe]

Hi bcroe.     Picture 1 or 2??? 

P1010056

[Phil Weber]

The threaded hole in the crankshaft nose should only be one diameter and is quite deep .

Is the bolt you have 9/16 UNF ( 18 TPI ) and not 9/16 UNC ( 12 TPI ) ?

Phil

[Phil Weber]

You need the UNF threaded bolt for the cank .

The original cam gears were coated with "plastic" which failed over time . That yours has last 560000 miles is somewhat of a miracle . You can buy a replacement chain and gear sets for around $30.00 US  . Cloyes brand is what I've used and seems quite popular .

Here is a link to Rock Auto . Their prices are really good . https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/cadillac,1976,deville,8.2l+500cid+v8,1409374,engine,timing+set,5756 .

I'm in Australia and I find freight is a huge expense for parts from the USA. Shipping to Germany would be similar I guess .

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Anything posted out of USA has to go by Air Mail.   The Surface Mail option was removed by ebay.

Bruce.

[bcroe]

And what do you mean by " A close look
reveals plenty of cracks in the plastic around the cam sprocket"

The Cadillac engine is new to me. I own the car since 1988 and I never
had any trouble.  My other cars are always Chevy's.
To get parts for Cadillac outside the USA is not so easy.

In the picture I see 3 cracks running from the metal inside to the chain
outside, and there are probably are a similar number on the lower half
covered with oil. 

Perhaps the trick to getting small parts from the USA, is to have a friend
here to ship them to you.  I have sent packages under 10 pounds about
everywhere this side of the iron curtain via USPS, in many cases both
ways.  Cost comparable to a tank of gas.  Bruce Roe

Bruce Roe

[1976Deville]

Yes, I googled the internet about the plastic. I had no idea that they did this. I also found out that CLOYES is the only good company for timing parts.
Thanks for your Help.

PS
can the oil pick up be removed an cleaned?

[1976Deville]

Yes Bruce,
I do this once a while.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

PS can the oil pick up be removed an cleaned?

Yes, but in your case, there shouldn't be anything in there.

With mine, the pickup was full, but still worked to let the oil through.   All this was in there, and none in the sump.   Took me an hour to get it all out.

Bruce.

[TJ Hopland]

He could still have valve guide seal bits in there, they were made out of a very similar plastic so while its apart I would still take the oil pickup off and bang it on the bench a few times to see if there is any noise or anything comes out. 

When things are apart be sure to keep track of the two bolts for the cam sprocket.   They are similar to some of the other bolts on the engine but are slightly shorter.   Getting the wrong bolts in there can cause clearance and noise issues.


Yep Cloyes seems to be the one brand for this sort of thing that has not yet let us down.   The rest seem to be getting there parts from the lowest bidder now rather than making them themselves like they used to.  The big problem area for this Cadillac engine family is the crank sprocket.   Many people reported that gear shattering when they installed it.   One guy had it happen after about 1000 miles.

Also watch out for oil pumps.   The originals the housing was aluminum so they didn't tend to wear very well.  At one time Melling was the only one making new ones and they had a hole that wasn't machined far enough so depending on the casting you got the bypass valve could hang up and leave you with no oil pressure.   Cadillac specialty vendors like 500cid.com inspect every one and correct them as needed.     I would think those guys ship international.    Maybe contact them and get together a complete package?   They have it all and last I checked were fairly competitively priced on the stuff you could find from other sources so they could be one stop shopping.   They also have lots of little things like a bolt and washer for the hub and various plugs for various places on the engine.     

[35-709]

Agreed, having a talk with the folks at   www.500cid.com   is a great idea and they should have everything you need.

[1976Deville]

Good that I cleaned the oil pick up.
Is there a gasket on the tube?