NO, leave the timing cover on for now. With the damper off, you'll be able to reach in against the gear with a screwdriver or other length "measuring tool". If the length of the exposed crankshaft is close to the width of the damper hub, you'll need to find out what's hanging up on the damper, because the lower gear position wouldn't be the issue. However, if the exposed crank is noticeably shorter than the hub width, you'll need to go exploring under the timing chain cover to find out what's out of whack.

 

ok i get so take the balancer off take a screw driver and mark on the screw driver where it stops and line it up the damper and so how much room is left ... correct

 

i put my harmonic balancer in the oven set at 225 degrees for a half hour then sled it on then used the installer to finish the job. some one told me that i should have a distance of 1 inch from the end of the crank to the outside edge of the balancer. i had a little over in inch like 1/16th over but thats as far as it would go. i also installed the crank gear the same way using the oven to heat it up.

 

^ Yeah, that could be. I know it doesn't want to be flush, but memory escapes me as to exactly how much recessed the crank wants to be. 1976, you may be worrying about nothing, if you're within those specs. Not being there to be able to see what you're looking at doesn't help either. How your lower pulley lines up to the others, and how close the back of the damper is to the timing chain cover can be another tell tale sign. One more thing to look at is the hole on the damper. You should be able to see a wear line showing how far it was slid onto the crank before. It would be fairly shiny where the crank was, and dirty/rusted/pitted beyond that point.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex_yJ...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9LNh...feature=relmfu

 

ok so ima try the oven one... i have like 3 inches from the timing cover to the balancer so i need it to go on alot more... im sure the snow and the cold weather just made it shrink so i will find out soon...any of you live in WA maybe you can come and help

 

so you measured the distance from the end of the crank to the timing gear? you take that measurment and measure that same distance on the inside the balancer, then mark with marker. now you can see the place where the crank should end when on all the way.

 

no not yet i havent been to my car yet... its at a public storage

 

I already tried twice getting that info.
What, do you feel lucky....punk?

 

Try putting on the damper without the key. If it goes on OK, then you know the key is not positioned properly and jamming thing up.