Well it's been an eventful summer. 36hrs before we left for the Iola Car show we lost the center carrier bearing on the drive shaft of our 1960 El Camino. I got it home with the help of a friend, pulled the assembly out of the x frame and my 15yr old son and my father finished pulling it apart and put the new cheapo steel bearing on. We had a billet alum one the steel ones don't last long. Good part was my son got to drive the Camino back home from the gas station after the test drive....my dad made me wait till I was 18...

Well my wife drove the truck to the show 250 miles, as I followed in our van hauling a 32' camper.

The last day of the show I fired up the engine and it immediately threw the belts. The harmonic balancer almost fell off... 24hrs earlier I could have found the parts at the swap meet. Some people tired to help but in the end I got it back to camp and had to call dad to come with a trailer. 9hr round trip for him.

Now I'm trying to find a new balancer as the old one is junk the keyway is twice as wide as it should be on the end of the balancer. The crank is fine.

My question is this is friction fit can I get a new 6" balancer that is friction fit or do I need to get a used one that matches mine. There are no new ones that look identical to mine. See picture.

Well that was an epic battle. The woodruff key refused to let go of the crankshaft. But it was too badly damaged and needed replaced. I got it out but I need to find a replacement. If anyone has an idea what part number I need I'dappreciate the help.

Is off a 1960 chevy 283. I know its 3/16" thick. And its long i think with a flat top of some sort.

I am not familiar with early SBC's but this site has a list for this part, but it looks shorter than the one in your picture But I am shire the height and width would be the same. They list the following dimensions, and there is a note about applications that use 2 smaller keys. I hope this is of some use.

Dimensions:

• Length: 1.375" or 1-3/8"

• Thickness: .187" or 3/16"

• Height, bottom to top: .395" or 25/64"

Alex's Parts Sales

Crankshaft Key, Woodruff Key, Early SB Chevy 265, 283, 327

Crankshaft Key, Woodruff Key, Early SB Chevy 265, 283, 327

Its deceiving I ground the entire top half of my key off before I got it out.

So i bet thats close

Well its all back together and running good so far. Used an old camping toaster oven to heat up the new balancer. Got it on a little easier. New belts and now it just needs a little engine touchup paint. Got the grime washed off it and dried just in time for it to rain on it a little. Picture of the Truck from a few years ago included. Thanks for the help finding the right parts. Feels good to have this driving again.