Shortening 232 crank snout?

G

GASnBRASS

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 6, 2017
Messages
688
Location
Minnesota
Any idea how to shorten the snout of my 232 crank by about 3/8" in vehicle? I imagine the machinists do it on a lathe but I'm not going to tear the motor apart just for this.

Edit: thinking about this more I guess the end does not need to be perfectly squared to the crank since there is no loading or alignment based on the end face of the crank.

20211116_161116.jpg
 
Last edited:
JPHikr said:
Does the pulley go in enough to give the seal good wiping area.
Click to expand...
The pulley has plenty of contact with the seal, actually needs to be spaced farther forward about .080" to better line up with the other pulleys. The end of the crank is longer than a standard 4.0 crank so the harmonic ballancer pulley bolt is contacting the fan blades. I need to trim down the crank snout so the bolt sits closer to the timing cover.
 
I'd probably go with an aggressive flapper disk on an angle grinder. Just keep the grindings out of areas you don't want them in. Use the side of the flapper that throws them downward.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GASnBRASS
Jerry Bransford said:
I'd probably go with an aggressive flapper disk on an angle grinder. Just keep the grindings out of areas you don't want them in. Use the side of the flapper that throws them downward.
Click to expand...
That might work. I have a Hesco spacer that could plug the gap around the seal and cover it with plenty of tape to seal it off. It's cast iron so I'm not sure how it would react to cutoff wheels.
 
GASnBRASS said:
That might work. I have a Hesco spacer that could plug the gap around the seal and cover it with plenty of tape to seal it off. It's cast iron so I'm not sure how it would react to cutoff wheels.
Click to expand...
I'm not suggesting a cutoff wheel, try a flapper disk. :)
 
Where will your cut be in relation to the end of key? That looks like a woodruff key also.
 
Jerry’s reply is right ,I thought about a good cutoff wheel also but a flapper disc will allow to take off material more gradually. Use a quality disc , metal particles in that area are not the hot tip.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jerry Bransford and GASnBRASS
This site contains affiliate links for which Jeep Wrangler TJ Forum may be compensated.
The heat generated cutting will probably destroy the crank. Unless you use a hack saw or something that generates very little heat you are going to make a mess of it. That ain't mild steel.
 
pagrey said:
The heat generated cutting will probably destroy the crank. Unless you use a hack saw or something that generates very little heat you are going to make a mess of it. That ain't mild steel.
Click to expand...
Well I mean what's my options, take coarse grit on a sanding block to it and do it by hand?
Would a few seconds with a flap disc and then pausing so it never gets too hot to touch be ok?

I've never worked with cast iron and don't know how it reacts to certain things. Seems most stroker builds just leave the longer snout but some have it milled down to the 4.0L length, which I skipped and now have to fix after the fact.
 
Claytone said:
Can you take the extra dimension off the bolt head? How much “too long” is it?
Click to expand...
As assembled there is about an 1/8" of interference between the crank bolt and the fan blades. Obviously I'll need more than just a smidge of clearance between such fast moving parts and account for any flex from the fan blades or the thermo coupler.

The ARP bolt head is 1/2" deep, so it could be shortened or replaced with a low profile bolt.
The crank snout has 3/8" of extra material on the end that could be removed.
The Hesco spacer is 1/2" thick but 1/4" of that extends past the end of the crank.

Shorten the snout, eliminate the spacer, and shorten/replace the bolt.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Claytone
Jerry Bransford said:
The crank has a huge amount of mass to sink the heat away from the front. Give the grinder a rest every so often to let it cool a bit is what I'd do.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the flap disc suggestion, only took about an hour. Taped everything off and took my time grinding and letting it cool, never getting too hot to touch. I was able to take 0.200" off, or about 5mm. With some other adjustments (getting rid of the snout spacer, shortening the crank bolt) I will have enough clearance now. Thanks for the help!

Before:

20211116_161116.jpg


After:

20211120_130850.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Claytone, pagrey, ColoJeep and 3 others
Top Bottom
Back