Stuck crank pulley bolt

[Shifty]

HI guys

I'm doing some disassembly on my 22RE and for the life of me I can't get the crank pulley bolt off.

So far I have tried:

* breaker bar with big lever & car in gear, motor still turns
* breaker bar with big lever attached to crank, starter motor not able to undo
* tried jamming cam pulley, smashed it into pieces and still bolt stays
* went to the expense of buying a big compressor & rattle gun - bolt still doesn't move
* pulled the starter off, unable to get anything in there to lock the flywheel

So much for a simple job!! Anyway at the end of yesterday I pulled the gearbox down but was too tired/angry to do anything else on it so I packed up for the night. My questions:

1. What's the best way to lock the flywheel now that the box is off?
2. If that doesn't work, what the hell do I do??

[Norbie]

My technique is to use a length of chain, one end bolted to the flywheel and the other to the head. Works very well in my experience.

[RPM016T]

Maybe try doing this:

* breaker bar with big lever attached to crank, starter motor not able to undo

But leave about a foot between the end of the breaker bar and the ground, so that when the bar actually hits the ground it will kind of 'break' the bolt?

[Shifty]

Possibly a good idea, but I was concerned about rounding off the bolt head or the bar flying loose. Too late to try that one now as I've smashed the cam pulley and there are bits all over the place.

Norbie's idea sounds best for my current situation, though being tight enough for the cam pulley to self destruct I'm not sure if a pressure plate bolt will be strong enough to hold it?

[RPM016T]

Yeah, pressure plate bolts are pretty average strength wise.. maybe take the pressure plate off and stick a high tensile bolt in there or something. Probably wouldnt cost more than $1 or so at a bolt supplier.

[SL666]

if you haven't already tried it.. use some penotrating lube.. like WD or simular, soak it 3 times a day for a couple of days, then get the rattle gun onto it.. bleed some pressure out of the tank until the compressor kicks in, let it fill the tank to the brim and then have a crack at it.. securing the flywheel etc will only help this..

[RWDboy]

I find that putting the car in 5th gear and a big ass breaker bar + pipe *always* works. (edit)I do realise that that is no longer an option with the box off.(/edit)

You could always just give up and find a way of grinding it off

[Dale]

Maybe try doing this:

* breaker bar with big lever attached to crank, starter motor not able to undo

But leave about a foot between the end of the breaker bar and the ground, so that when the bar actually hits the ground it will kind of 'break' the bolt?

I'm voting for this option, from experience letting the bar get a "run up" is likely to crack the bolt.. although this isn't an option now you've dropped the box anyway!

Good luck

[gianttomato]

My technique is to use a length of chain, one end bolted to the flywheel and the other to the head. Works very well in my experience.

Norbie ftw. What I do, works everytime. Of course, if the crank pulley bolt is very tightly done up, then you may need to use bigger and uglier friends!

[ed]

sump off and wedge a block of wood under the #1 crank counterweight

[RWDboy]

ed ftw - yeah i've done that trick once or twice as well. Still if you need buggerloads of torque you may find that you need to have the engine securely in place as well

[Shifty]

wtf is ftw?

[SL666]

its a PFism..

ftw ftw..

[Shifty]

Good-o.

Hopefully I'll have this bolt off in the next day or two... just a matter of getting a good bolt to put in the flywheel.

[barned01]

i used a chain and d shackle. connected the d shackle to the flywheel, the chain to the d shackle and then wrapped the chain around the block (could try and secure it somewhere but hopefully you won't t need to and can just wedge it around an inlet runner or something).
then used a breaker bar with another extension bar on top of this and turned the crank bolt till the chain took up the slack and wulla. bolt out. (good if you don't care too much about the engine or flywheel cos you can get them cheap from a wrecker.) I have bent many bolts tryint to stopa flywheel with it, you might need something stronger like a solid metal bar or something.

The block of wood against the crank was by far the best method for me though assuming you can get a block of wood in there (could take engine out of car, remove sump, rebolt engine back in and then give that method a shot...)