Effed up big time.....
 

Hi everyone. I'm not too proud to admit this but I really messed up bad yesterday when installing my Perrin Lightweight Crank pulley. I was considering not sharing this but I don't want to see someone else do what I did so I'll go ahead and share. If this post can help prevent 1 person from making the same mistake I did it was all worth the time to write it up. So here goes:

Now I totally understand the idea of righty tighty lefty loosey, I really do, but for some reason when installing the pulley I thought the instructions stated to turn the tensioner pulley bolt clockwise, I'm not sure why I thought this. So, anyways, I turned it clockwise and it turned a bit, so I kept turning it and......CRACK, Thud......the bolt broke and the washer and bolt head fell underneath my engine. :cry: I just stood there like a dumb@$$ staring at it and wondering what I would do, luckily for me I was in my dad's driveway and he has more tools than Tim the Toolman Taylor, so here's what we had to do to resolve this huge mess I created,

1) pull the alternator off (not absolutely certain if I HAD to do this)
2) pull the tensioner assembly off
3) take the tensioner assembly apart
4) gradually drill out the hole containing the broken bolt
5) try to "chase the threads" in the old hole, fail at it
6) get thread bits and manually rethread the hole
7) go find another bolt of same size, thread type, and bolt hardness (10.9)
8) reassemble tensioner assembly
9) reinstall alternator, tensioner assembly, and serpentine belt
10) put Loc-tite on new bolt and tighten down
11) install Perrin Crank Pulley
12) apply tension to belt
13) reinstall intake system
14) hook battery back up and start car, watch it idle and check for issues

Talk about a major PITA, just as a safeguard I ordered a new tensioner assembly with the factory bolt because the one I have in there now is an "8" hardness and the factory one is a 10.9. I don't know how big a deal that is but I'd prefer to have the factory bolt with factory threading vs. my jerry-rigged setup. It got me on the road but I'm not willing to risk it long term.

Please don't make the same mistake I did. I know it seems really simple, but remember righty tightly lefty loosey, there's nothing tricky about these bolt thread patterns.

Take care,

Ricky

I think this should be in the DIY or something but I am glad to hear you got it all fixed. You live and learn.

NOBODY has more tool than the tool man... Nobody.