Alright....Now, I'm totally confused.....

For those of you playing along at home...

About 2 weeks ago my power steering stopped working (3.4L motor). A couple of days later I get to figuring out why, and find that my harmonic balancer has come loose on the crankshaft! The balancer has been destroyed...the hole that fits onto the crank is now all ground out and about 3-mm wider than the end of the crank. The end of the crankshaft is all marred up too. And, (here's where it starts to get weird) there appears to be no key way for the knock key....that little bar of metal that lines up the harmonic balancer and hold it in place!

I looked up and down and could not find the slot for the knock key. I could see the one for the timing belt sprocket (the key actually stick out of the end of the sprocket about 2-mm) but, not the one for the balancer...just isn't one there.

So...assuming I had some defective crankshaft in my motor (one that the knock key slot hadn't been cut into...and therefore allowed the balancer to slip and loosen up) I figured I was going to have to replace the crankshaft to fix this little problem. So, I ordered up the parts....got the balancer about 4 days ago, and the used crankshaft I bought, arrived today.

So....I got all my toys together (tools and parts) and I start checking things out....and now I'm completly confused....

I measured up the end of my crankshaft(s) and they are identical. The knock key slot in the new crankshaft is in exactly the same place as the one in my motor already...right underneath the timing belt sprocket.....which means there is no knock key slot for the balancer, on the crankshaft!!

The key for the timing belt sprocket sticks out past the timing belt sprocket a tiny bit (about 2-mm)....and would concevably poke into the slot on the harmonic balancer that same 2-mm. But, there has to be more to it that that?? isn't there? I've rebuilt a few motors over the years and everyone had a nice slot cut into the end where the blancer sat.

The balancer has a nice square slot cut through the entire mounting bore. Why doesn't the crankshaft have a similar slot?

How on earth do you line up the balancer on the crank (so you can time the motor)? The balancer fits on there pretty tightly. If you don't get it lined up perfectly, you have to pull it and re-try.

Can anyone who's torn down and rebuilt these motors before offer some guidance here? What exactly SHOULD I see. Am I missing something completely?...cause it sure feels like it.

Are you using this? 2003 FSM

Also crosscheck here 3.4 TC Belt

I haven't had one of these to look at yet; I can't see as that you're missing anything, near as I can tell.

That one keyway is it. It seemed kinda odd to me also the first time that i tore one down. The only thing that you can do is just put it back together and check your torque on the crank bolt.

I've got the 1997 4Runner Toyota FSM. Doesn't give any specific info about the key way.

The pics on the 4x4Wire Timing Belt Article shows almost what I'm seeing. In the pics that have the crankshaft shown, you can see the knock key sticking out of the timing belt sprocket...about 4-mm....looks to be twice as far as on my engine....but it's very similar.

I can't believe that's all ya get!! Thats' nothing!

EB....is this correct?

>>>*I had to go look at one, yep, that's it....Looks goofy to me, too....I wonder how many folks have had trouble there, although I haven't really heard any reports other than yours...*EB

I still don't believe it!

I realize with the weights and rotational velocities....and the spinning and all, that a 2x2-mm peice of steel isn't going to do too much to prevent the damper from spinning if it wants too......but that little thing can barely be used to align the damper, and therefore the timing mark. It's so small that you could mis-align the damper and not even know it. You can't even see if the damper is pushed all the way back.

Anyway......enough of my whinning....

let me ask ya though....

The end of my crank is a bit marred up....not quite the shinney, smooth surface I'm used to seeing. But, my new damper does still fit snuggly on there. On the new (used) crank the damper slides on 2-mm or 3-mm before it starts to seat. On the crank in my motor it goes on about 8-mm or 9-mm before it starts to seat itself.....which is about 1/2 of the bore depth on the damper.....granted it's not perfect, but do you think I'm good to bolt on the new damper and forget about putting in a new crank?


And if so....do you have any tips for making sure it never comes off again. I'm definitely going to torque the thing to spec. But, would locktight help any...or be OK to use. And, is it OK to go to 225 lb-ft of torque (as apposed to the 184 the FSM recommends)?

a while back i had my harmonic balancer on my 3.0 come apart the rubber just let go and wasnt holding the outer piece any more but when i tried to pull it off the truck i just about destroyed the crank it was on so tight. so when i put it back on i actually put anti sieze all over the shaft and the threads of the bolt that holds it on. then torqued it. Never had a problem with it in the 2 years until it ran out of oil on steep hill and ate its bearings for lunch

CoRunner93 i sent you a email with some questionss about your swap

I would not recommend it. Fasteners are made for a specific torque, going above that puts the fastener and the threaded hole in danger of failure.

ZUK has used a type of Lock-Tite for bearing races in some gear installs. Used for round type stuff to keep parts from slipping around. I really can't recall what it's called, but would probably help if applied to the crank and balancers rounded surfaces.

My 2001 FSM has a torque spec of 217 ft-lbs for the crankshaft pulley bolt on the 5VZFE. But here's the weird thing, that's if you look in the engine mechanical (EM-22)section. If you look in the service specs/torque specs (SS-14)section it shows a torque spec of 184 ft-lbs for the crankshaft pulley X crankshaft.

So what's going on there you ask? Well Mike @ ORS told me that the early 5VZFEs had a problem with the crank bolt loosening up from the factory, so they increased the torque spec to 217 ft-lbs. Now it appears to me that Toyota paper pushers changed the spec in one spot of the FSM but not another. To make matters worse I've heard that this lower (wrong) spec is what is on the computer system used by most shops!

I've seen more than a few people lately over on Yotatech with their crankbolt coming loose on the 5VZFE and is seems most have had thier timing belts replaced in the last year or so. What is really sad is that the very people who are trying to take care of their engines by replacing the timing belt are the ones getting burned by this IMHO wrong spec.

I'll share one more thing that Mike told me, they check that the crankbolt is torqued to 217 ft-lbs on any 3.4swap they do and if the bolt moves while checking they remove it and apply red-loctite and retorque it.