I’ve ordered a new front AND rear main oil seal (I’m still dealing with an oil leak back there) from “Terry’s Jaguar Parts”. I’m also shipping off my damper for rebuilding tomorrow to “Dale manufacturing”, so it’s just a waiting game now.
I have to admit that I’m reluctant to pull out the front oil seal because there’s no leak and as my dear Ole Dad (Bless his heart) used to say, “If it ain’t broken, leave it it alone” !
So I say to myself, “well if hasn’t leaked in 34 years” …
and then I say, “Hey, it’s been in there for over 3 decades” …
Well I just received my rebuilt harmonic balancer in the mail. Work was done by Dale Manufacturing. Very fast turn around, very reasonable price, and Dale is a very knowledgeable and nice guy. So all good with that. He even balanced and painted it … sweet !
Because I had a HUGE struggle removing the damper I thought I’d do a little measuring before I reinstalled it. I have a really bad feeling about getting that thing half way back on and then getting it stuck (yes it was THAT HARD to get off !!).
I used a micrometer to measure the diameter of the “snout” (that’s what they call the front end of the crank shaft that the damper slides onto), and the inside diameter of the damper. No matter how many times I measured the snout it was microscopically bigger than the hole in the damper (and no he didn’t paint the inside of the damper, so that’s not the problem). The damper is originally as far as I know and I’ve owned the car now for 30 year (second owner) and every repair was under dealer warranty before I purchased it.
After researching this online some advised honing, while other’s say absolutely do not hone it. Also heating the damper in the oven at 200 deg for 30 minutes was discussed which actually makes sense.
As hard as it was to come off, I DO NOT want to get it halfway on and then have to pull it back off. So I’m just looking for your thoughts and options on this my esteemed colleagues.
This does make sense; a similar approach is recommended when replacing the output shaft (rear half-axle) bearings, right? Did you ask Dale for his thoughts? I can’t imagine the 200° heat would adversely afect the rubber bonding the damper inner and outer bits.
Don’t forget, the damper ‘lives’ in a spot that while perhaps not as hot as the hubs of Hades gets quite hot, to which can personally attest after having to change out a CPS by the side of the road after the car had been driven and was fully up to temp.
As far as I know the same damper has been used on Jag engines for years prior to the introduction of the AJ6 - one reason why the puller holes remain imperial rather than metric.
Damper installed and all is good but not before much soul searching. I plan to post a detailed pictorial “Removing and replacing a Jaguar XJ40 damper for dummies” in the near future but first …
The reason that the damper was so difficult to remove turned out to be not the fitment of the damper to the crankshaft snout but … are you ready for this … A damaged “woodruff key”. That’s the metal key that sits in a slot between the snout and damper to keep it from rotating. It’s suppose to just pop out but mine was solidly wedged in.
After much effort I finally got it out of the slot and it was obviously damaged. My guess is that the two slots weren’t properly aligned during original assembly and the damper was forced on. A bit of work with a metal file and I had the key cleaned up so it now fit properly. After that the damper slid right on with very little effort using a 3/4" bolt.
Everything’s back together and a nice long test ride was completely successful. But then there’s the leaking master brake cylinder that I plan to rebuild tomorrow … the beat goes on
