crappy day

[DeputyDan]

so I went to put a new harmonic balancer on using the "proper" tool and it tore the threads out of my crankshaft. I should have stuck to the old way of knocking it on with a hammer! Anyway to make a long story short I need to retap the crank and it has only a few threads left in it. What is the best way to go about this? I was thinking drill out the threads with a 1/2 bit then tap it for 1/2-20 as I believe 1/2-20 is the next size up. Or should I drill it out with a 7/16 (the OEM size) and try to retap it as a 7/16-20? Also has anyone ever seen a thrust bearing actually go out by tapping it on with a hammer? Reason I ask is because grandpa was a GM mechanic for 30+ years and he says he never saw one go bad and they actually used a wood block and hammer at the dealrship to put them on. He says he has seen the rubber go bad and seperate the balancer but not the thrust bearing go bad if the pistons and crank are already in.