I Keyed the Crank Thanks for the advice...

[JimT 99RT]

Well I took everyone’s advice and keyed the crank; here are the steps I took. Some of these steps may not be needed, but I wanted to have plenty of room to get to the crank and the bolt.

The Roe S/C is running great and I have had no engine codes!!!

(Note: My car sits on a Kwik Lift and was off the ground so I could easily get underneath it.)

1) Apply the parking brake and leave it engaged.
2) Loosen the clamps to smooth tubs on the throttle bodies.
3) Remove air cleaner box and smooth tubes as one assembly.
4) Drain the radiator fluid enough to remove the top radiator hose.
6) Remove the two bolts holding the power steering cooling radiator to the cross member, and tie it out of the way.
7) Remove the radiator fan, it is only five bolts and one electrical connection, it comes out easily. You have to remember to slide the red locking clip OUT on the fan’s electrical harness to be able to easily disconnect the harness.
8) Pry out the clips holding the wiring harness to the underneath side of the cross member.
9) One the driver’s side just above where the cross member bolts to the frame is a wiring harness, pry out the two clips holding this wring harness to the body so it can be moved out of the way. There is another wiring harness above this one that I left in place.
10) Take out the five bolts holding the cross member, two each on each side of the car, and one underneath on the cross bar.
11) Jack the car up from the center of the car until the front wheels are off the ground, the front wheels apply weight to the outside of the car removing the pressure off of the cross member allowing you to remove it.
12) To remove the cross member push the passenger side down as far as in will go, and pry out the drivers side of the cross member. There are 3/8” steal lines on the passenger side so it will not come out straight. You may have to grind down a rivet that is just above the front bolt on the driver’s side of the cross member, it gets in the way of removing the cross member. I had to use a small pry bar to help get the cross member over this rivet. I will grind the rivet down a little before I put the cross member back.
13) Remove the four bolts holding the front sway bar to the frame, so the sway bar will drop down out of the way to give you a clear line to the crank bolt.
14) Put the car into 4th gear if you haven’t done so already.
15) Remove the crank bolt, I used a ½” impact wrench with a 1 ¼ “ socket to get my bolt out, it was very tight.
16) Remove the serpentine belt.
17) Remove the crank pulley.
18) Screw in the Roe key tool.
19) Carefully drill out the first hole as specified in the instructions to 2.40” to 2.45” (inches). I used a de-burring tool to scratch a line in the drill bit at the 2.40” mark as measure by a set of calipers. The crank is hard and takes quite a while to drill. I tried an air drill but did not have enough air so I used a 3/8” electric drill.
20) After the first hole is drilled, removed the Roe key tool, put the crank bolt back in, put the car in neutral, and use the crank bolt to turn the crank 180 degrees to drill the second hole.
21) Put the car back into 4th gear and remove the crank bolt, then put the Roe key tool back in, using a second drill bit to locate the first hole.
22) Carefully drill out the second hole to 2.40” to 2.45” (inches).
23) Remove the Roe key tool.
24) Use low-pressure air to blow off the crank and blow the holes out.
25) Insert the first key open side toward the center of the crank and carefully tap the key into place so it is flush with the crank, if it does not sit flush the Roe instructions say to grind it off.
26) Put the crank bolt back in, put the car back in neutral, and use the crank bolt to help turn the crank 180 degrees to get to the second hole.
27) Put the car back into 4th gear and remove the crank bolt.
28) Gently tap in the second key in with the open side facing toward the center of the crank, if it does not sit flush the Roe instructions say to grind it off.
29) Make sure the car is in 4th gear.
30) Apply red locktite #271 to the crank bolt and tighten the crank bolt down to 250 ft lbs.
31) Reassemble in reverse order.

[2MANYTOYS]

Good job! You won't regret it. Now you can hammer it worry free.

[BigCarrot]

Why is 4th gear so important?

[BIGBADCJ]

i used 1st and did fine

[BigCarrot]

Right, I can't understand the 4th thing. Why in the hell would it make any difference at all?

[joe117]

I guess he's in gear to keep the crank from turning. It's harder to turn the drivetrain in fourth than in first.

Why 4th rather than 5th or 6th? I don't know other than 4th is probably the strongest since it's straight thru.

[JimT 99RT]

I remember seeing a posting where 4th gear is the strongest gear, so I used this. Maybe one of the Techs has a good explanation, or maybe it doesn't matter.

[Viper Specialty]

4 is not strongest, BUT, it is the strongest gear, with the lowest ratio. 5/6 are very weak, and 1/2/3 are stronger, but 1/2/3 will want to turn the back wheels a lot more than 4 with the same 250 ft/lbs. the lower the gear, the higher the torque multiplier.

Basically, using 4 over 1 keeps you from having to CRANK the e-brake for all its worth.