Crank bolt issues!

[Ferendon]

Can't get the crank bolt off. This is a time crunch project, and the top half the engine is already off. Before I started pulling it apart, I attempted several starter bumps. The engine's too weak to do it! We propped the flywheel, and tried, but we only had a 12-point socket, and it started to give like it was gonna jump a thread, so we stopped, and bought a 6 point deep. It sticks out past the fender well, which makes it hard to get it straight. Any other suggestions to get that bad boy off? I'll buy a 6-point shallow, and I bought 4 new prybars to hold the flywheel with, instead of a jack handle with the rubber pulled off the end. Any other ideas?

 

[wood_e]

Impact wrench

 

[Dr. Tweak]

Get a stronger battery, and a six point socket, and maybe put a piece of wood under where the racket handle goes.

 

[Ferendon]

I'm using a breaker bar. But the engine's taken apart now... No go on the starter bump, and no air compressor... I don't have a garage that I can work in. It's parked at the curb by my friend's house.... I wish I had a compressor....

 

[Dr. Tweak]

How "taken apart" is it? All you have to do is get to the point where you can turn the engine just a little bit with the starter and you can do it.

 

[RJ-92]

No go on the starter bump, and no air compressor... I don't have a garage that I can work in. .... I wish I had a compressor....

Yes you do, cause your gonna be in trouble without one. Better start calling people who might ahave a portable one.

I had to hit the CB on my 3.2 with, 120Lbs of air back and forth for a good 10 min before I could even get it moving at all, thenused a 5', yep 5' breaker bar to get it off. This was 2 months ago, without air I'd still be trying to get it off.

 

[Ferendon]

Someone post instruction on how to make a handle to hold it. It would be car but It might work. Some good bolts, and alot of sweat, might work.

 

[RJ-92]

Someone post instruction on how to make a handle to hold it. It would be car but It might work. Some good bolts, and alot of sweat, might work.

What are you trying to hold? If your talking starter bump method, your gonna lose a hand!

read this link before you cripple yourself: http://www.shophoenixproject.com/lower60k/lower60k.htm

 

[TYSHO]

Here's the deal...if your flywheel is still bolted on, more and likely the bolts will be hard to remove. When I tried to loosen my flywheel bolts, I held the crank bolt...guess what broke loose first? The crank bolt! Try that, if it doesn't work you'll need air tools.

Where in FTW are you? I have the tools.

 

[Ferendon]

They starter bump the same way I do. I'm probably gonna put a lifetime warranty prybar on the flywheel and get at it that way. I've done a few starter bumps, but never had this much trouble. It always worked in the past, no problems. Air tools would be nice, but I have no way to get ahold of a compressor, much less tools.

 

[SHOketer422]

ok, this is what i did, and yea, it was kinda rigged, but hey, it worked...

the starter bumps weren't working for me either, and NEITHER did the air guns, so don't think that an air gun will solve your problem..I don't know why, but this thing was on there ********...so, needless to say, I was stumped. Thankfully, I had my trusty dremel, the plug in one works best. Put a cutting wheel on it, and cut through the meaty head of the bolt, trying not to cut the pulley at all!! Don't worry that its not a clean cut through, and its jagged and whatnot, we'll clean that up in a few...OK, so most of the head is gone, and all you see is a big old washer, and some leftovers from the emergency surgery. Now, get your drill, and go buy the nicest, largest, within reason, drill tip you can get, diamond tipped, whatever, and just drill into it, making sure not to drill into the sides of the pulley, its sounds risky, but you'd be able to tell if you go crooked enough to hit the pulley...you dont have to drill far, just far enough to get that stupid washer apart from the rest of the bolt...after all that, its just a ittle clean up with a smaller drill bit, and you're good to go.

Question here, but when i did this, I just pulled the pulley off, I didn't need a harmonic balancer puller or whatever the **** everybody is saying they use...I just slid the thing off, came off nice and smooth, and went back on just the same...dind't have to force it at all...is there anything wrong with this? Car ran fine anyway, so whatever...

but back to the bolt!!!! Obviously, youve just ruined your bolt...so take a run down to the closest hardware store / supply store, whatever has nuts and bolts in all shapes and sizes, and bring all the pieces with you. Give them the pieces, and get a replacement bolt in the same size, and a washer to supplement the destroyed one...that's what I did, and the car ran fine, well, the engine was ok, till I sold it...had other problems, but thats a whole nother story...hope this maybe helps, if nothing else, its like a last resort method....

 

[dstig1]

Wow. Some serious techniques here. I had to take mine off about 2 yrs ago on a 10+ yr old SHO to finish off the much-delayed 60k (and a new water pump, it turned out). Impact wrench was the key. It took somewhere between 20-30 min of pounding away with the impact wrench to loosen it. Things to know:
1. Good quality impact wrench is key (Ingersoll Rand in my case)
2. If it ain't a good one make it a big one. Mine is good 1/2" drive which is minimum. There are 3/4 and 1" drive ones you can rent from a serious rental store. If you only have a 3/8" drive impact wrench, find a bigger wrench for this bolt.
3. Plenty of air is important - big compressor and wait for the pressure to catch up from time to time so you can pound it again
4. Patience. Like I said it took 20+minutes. Once it started to go, it started to move slowly but it came out.
5. Memory is fuzzy on this point, but I don't think I torched it.

The nice thing about impact wrenches is that you don't really need to brace the flywheel for them to work.

-Dave
'92 5spd, 138k