Troubles putting crank woodruff key in place!

[smokinv8]

On my 2a I Have been trying today without success, to put a new woodruff key in place on the crank.

I have been trying to slide it in with a couple of screwdrivers and a blob of grease to hold it in place and every time it falls off into the engine. I have taken the sump off thinking I would have better access that way, but It doesnt, It does help ever so slightly in the retrieval of the key though.

Any tips or other methods I can try?

I'm hoping I don't have to take the timing case off or drill out the rivets on the crank seal.

[Phil Hancock]

From my experience it will be timing case off as the key is a drive fit in its seat.

[kshurey]

Get some liquid nitrogen and cool the key to buggery it may shrink enough to drop in ?

[Snagger]

How long until someone suggests filing the key down? (DON'T!)

[smokinv8]

Looks like its timing case off then. Didnt realise the key was a tight fit into the crank, thought it just dropped in.

[Snagger]

They are tight, or at least should be, but not astonishingly so - it's more a matter of gaining access to press with a small tool it in than needing room for a huge pressing tool. If the key is not an interference fit, then it'll fret and wear the key and the slot, wrecking the shaft - it has to be that tight to guarantee it won't damage the shaft, but has to be looser on the pulley otherwise you'd never get the pulley off, and so it's the exposed part of the key which wears because of that looseness.

[smokinv8]

Well i ended up taking the timing case off and low and behold...there was the original key along with 2 others that i had managed to lose in there!

So have now cleaned it all up and going to renew the crank seal whilst its accesable. I have seen other threads where it is reccomended to drill out the rivets that hold the seal in, and replace it with tapped holes for screws to make replacement easier next time.

I also plan to loctite the key in płace this time too.

[Snagger]

Good plan. Use the blue semi-permanent locktite, not the red permanent one, so that you can remove the key in the future should you need to.

[kshurey]

How long until someone suggests filing the key down? (DON'T!)

That's a silly idea, easier to use the dremel on the crank !!

[Snagger]

That's a silly idea, easier to use the dremel on the crank !!

When I bought a "recon" 12J from a well known Leeds based specialist with a keen interest in rallying, , I soon found they tried something like that - the slot had presumably been damaged and they'd welded it up, filing the key to fit the mishapen slot. In the process, they ovalised the end of the shaft, so they drilled an offset grub screw halfway in the pulley, half in the crank, to stabilise the crank. Unfortunately, they had the pulley pressed the wrong way at the time and secured it off centre. No matter, the crank was bent in the middle anyway!

[kshurey]

When I bought a "recon" 12J from a well known Leeds based specialist with a keen interest in rallying, , I soon found they tried something like that - the slot had presumably been damaged and they'd welded it up, filing the key to fit the mishapen slot. In the process, they ovalised the end of the shaft, so they drilled an offset grub screw halfway in the pulley, half in the crank, to stabilise the crank. Unfortunately, they had the pulley pressed the wrong way at the time and secured it off centre. No matter, the crank was bent in the middle anyway!

Ouch !

[Snagger]

Yeah - £1500 in the mid 90s, so about £2200 by current value, for a pile of scrap; it also had bent valves, an incorrectly assembled oil pump that produced almost no pressure. I rebuilt it myself a couple of years later, once all the problems had showed up and it needed a rebore and new pistons already too, probably because of the bent crank (that was only found on strip down). It ran beautifully after that, though - started instantly even afyer weeks of standing in sub zero conditions and pulled my 109 along on the flat at a little over 60mph, despite all the drag from the accessories, and never used a drop of oil or water. That's why I always tell people to build their own, not to buy recon - I had two recon gear boxes with similar quality issues, and replaced the later one with a Gen Parts factory recon which failed after just 30-odd thousand miles (3rd/4th synchro spring failure, jamming the hub unit), which showed numerous thrust washers fitted the wrong way around and a few shims and thrust components fitted in the wrong sequence, wrecking the second gear wheel and no use of the bearing seating compound on the main shaft bearing - not even LR assemble them right! If didn't have such bad luck, I'd have no luck at all!