I had one damper that came off hard and seemed hard pressing on. I bought come  crocus cloth 2000 grit Grit and worked on the end of the crank and inside of the damper for a looser fit. Still needed a little pressure to press on so not too loose.



Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

While relocating the seal in the front cover is a possibility, it does increase the risk of having an oil leak in that area.  To ensure that the seal is ‘square’ to the damper, the seal does need to be seated all the way back to its original resting position.

The ideal fix for the groove in the damper is installing a sleeve on the damper snout that effectively gives the seal a new surface to ride upon.  Jeff brings up a good point in having the damper rebuilt which would address not only that grooved seal surface but would also replace the rubber that holds the damper ring in place.  Assuming the damper is the original and has never been previously serviced, that elastomer rubber is well past its life expectancy.

Other comments always welcome so let's hear them.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Have you considered sending it to Damper Dudes to be rebuilt?

Hi, I am still assembling the truck 292 to put in my T-Bird.  The crank damper I have is in the condition shown in the photo.  It appears that there is room in the front cover to place the seal further out towards the front of the engine to make it ride in a new place on the damper snout.  Is that worth trying?  Or is a .017" grove not bad enough to worry about?  I haven't tried looking for a repair sleeve yet. 

And one other thing - the T-bird damper is much tighter on the crank than the truck one that I removed.  How much interference is needed on these?  I haven't measured them, but man that damper was hard to get off of the 312 it was on!
Thanks!



'55 T-Bird
Battle Ground, WA