Hi, I need to change the crankshaft sprocket on my 1999 dodge avenger and am unsure where to begin...does anyone have any advice? The crankshaft pulley fell off of the car(have no idea why this happened) and the little piece (dowel pin) which aligns the sprocket with the pulley was sheared off, so as a result i have to replace the sprocket as well. Can I just skip doing this? Can i just buy a dowel pin and try to weld it into the sprocket?

 

The dowel pin is an alignment deal you'll have to remove the sheared off part in the crank and then replace the sprocket and dowel pin that back in and retime the engine

 

I removed the debris from the sprocket that's in the engine and now theres a stepped hole in there where the dowel pin originally was. The new replacement sprocket has a smooth surface on the side that faces the engine and the dowel pin on the pulley's side looks like it's welded in, not a solid part of the sprocket, what I'm wondering is, can i buy a dowel pin and weld it into the sprocket that's already in the engine? I don't know enough to know if this would be a problem. Sorry for being repetetive, it's just that I'm not really mechanically inclined and I'm trying to get my car up as soon as possible.

 

Not following you ... are you sure the dowel pin cast into the part doesn't line up the hole in the crank ???