[SEL] Petter Gib Key - Eureka!, Walla!, Bonzai!!!

[Paul Maples]

Unbelievable, the gib key is out and no damage to the flywheel or crankshaft. Many, Many thanks to all of you who were patient with me, offered help, suggestions, and pictures and to those who were critical of me "Phooey on you" but I still love you.

I was going to make a drill guide block but when I put the new 3/8" keystock in the crankshaft keyway I discovered that although the keyway was 3/8" wide the gib key was only 1/4" high at the end so had I center drilled the 3/8" drill guide block it would have drilled into the crankshaft. I decided to give a go at just free hand drilling the 1/8" hole through the center and go real slow and use a lot of "tap magic" lubricant. I was surprised how soft the key seemed to be as the drill just sailed through the keyway. I drilled approximately 3/4 of the way through the broken gib key with a 1/8" drill bit then I changed to a #7 drill bit and followed it through the 1/8" hole. I was going to tap the hole but discovered that the bottom of the hole was too close to the crankshaft and the tap would have touched off on the crankshaft so I gave up the idea of tapping. I figured the large hole through the gib key would at least relieve the side pressure on the gib key and apparently it did..

I then took a large nut that would screw onto the end of my slide hammer shaft (had matching threads), I found an old drill bushing in my tool box that was for a 1/4" drill (Super Lucky) here, I welded the drill bushing onto the large nut, I then dropped the 1/4" X 3" grade 8 bolt I had down through the drill bushing with the head being inside of the large nut and welded it onto the bushing. I then screwed the large bolt onto my slide hammer, gave it a sharp blow and noticed the gib key had moved about an 1/8", two more sharp blows and she was out. Am I ever happy.

Go to my WebShots page and you can see some pictures of the tools and setup.

http://client.webshots.com/photo/312061677/312074494etEtpf


Again, thanks to everyone who encouraged me and provided so much help, I would not have done it without you. You guys make me proud to be a member of this List.

Paul