tighten crank bolt back up on ATX??

[SHOslamwagon]

how do i do it? especially to 120 lb? i tried trans in park, and 2nd but i have a feeling it makes no difference :S the engine just spins, although i shifted the gears with no battery in the car.

and unlike everybody else it seems; my timing pulley and harmonic damper both easily slid off an on, i barely had to put pressure on my puller to break it loose and it just slid off by hand, just luck or something bad? everything looked good in there.

 

[hawkeye18]

Every crank is different. I've had some that slid right off after a couple of whacks with a rubber mallet, and some that I've had to fight with for an hour with a puller. Looks like you just got lucky.

As far as tightening that bolt goes... I hate to say it but the easiest way is going to be getting an impact hammer (electric or otherwise). It is very, very difficult to get enough torque on that nut with a traditional wrench on an ATX. An effective method is to remove the starter and jam the flex plate with something, but honestly, that's a lot of work. A strap wrench can also work, depending on the quality of the strap and the strength of the person holding it (it's not a 1-man job). If you have a spare accessory belt you don't need, you can fashion a fairly effective strap wrench out of that and a set of vise grips.

 

[93rev2sev]

If you make it the last thing you do, you can jam up the accessory train with screwdrivers. Especially if you have an old belt to use. Just shove a screwdriver in front of every pulley.

 

[SHOslamwagon]

after trying jaming up my accessory belt with wrenches and only getting 70 lbs on the bolt i came up with an idea so brilliant i figured i would post it, i simply threaded a long stud into the one hole on the damper and then put my jack handle over it and wedged it against the frame, i got 120 lbs on the crank bolt, i just had to hold the assembly down while cranking on it.

 

[hawkeye18]

That's brilliant, actually. Sort of a reverse starter bump!