I can't get the crank bolt out! After I screwed it up and put 250 to it, my estimation is that I have tried 300-350 trying to get it to back out, and it won't budge. The socket is slipping off the head and starting to round it off. If the threads of the bolt/crank have galled to the point that it's taking so much force to back the bolt out, I'm willing to leave it.

Don't start flaming me in my own post because I choose to not follow your advice. You don't appear to completely read my messages (I never said to use a heli coil. I decided to only shim the PS, not "the rest of the accessories"). Multiple times in this thread you have posted inaccurate information (harmonic damper) and poor advice (JB weld to repair threads). Not knowing what composition of Viton the crank seal is, I don't want to risk overheating the crank and damaging the seal. I would guess that most automotive/low grade applications use the Viton compounds that have a max life temperature of 400F, which means I don't even want to get close to that (300 or so). It is way to difficult to control how hot I am getting the crank with a propane torch while on my back underneath a vehicle. I trust my schooling and instinct that the slight misalignment of the belt and that the crank bolt is unlikely to back out on it's own over risking damaging the crank seal and having oil leak in my driveway for the rest of the Rams life and/or breaking off the bolt and forcing my hand to go to the next step of drilling things out.

I will probably only have 20 minutes into making shims for the PS pump. Not a significant investment of time. I've spent more time trying to counteract some of your poor suggestions or inaccurate knowledge so the next guy that makes this mistake like me will not compound the problem with more poor information. Thanks for playing.

 

Doesn't the HEMI timing sprocket require the harmonic balance to seat against it and the oil pump? I just did my timing chain replacement shown in this DIY video I made.

 

I wouldn't think so. The oil pump is held on with 4 bolts, which also keeps the timing sprocket on the crank in place

 

Ah okay. Was wondering what secured the crank gear down.

 

been a month did u fix it yet?

 

I went with leaving the dampener where it was and shimming out the other accessories. I 1st tried making a shim for the power steering pump by tracing the footprint on a piece of flat stock I had, but it did not sit right. Ended up bringing my caliper to the hardware store and finding the right stack of washers that I needed to get the pump pushed out as far as I needed. Surprisingly, the washers kept the pump nice and square. I got lucky and found an idler pulley for a different vehicle that is the same diameter and width, but comes with an alignment spacer. That put the idler out where I needed it. It's been a year, and I really should shim out the fan pulley with some washers, as you can see that the belt starts to ride off on the rounded part of the pulley. In the winter, the humidity/cold made the belt squeak a bit at startup (probably because of the fan pulley), but otherwise I have not problems with. I'm guessing that I will only get two years out of each belt because of how it's wearing, but I can live with buying a $28 belt rather than the headache of dealing with the galled up threads in the crank snout. I will probably eventually have to fix it right when I have to do the chain, but I'm happy for now. I probably put 10K miles on it the last year and I see no issues.