Crankshaft damper / pulley bolt

To get the crankshaft bolt loose on my Toyota pickup: Get two sturdy
pieces of angle iron long enough to fit from your crankshaft bolt to
the ground at a 45 degree angle (about 30" on my Toyota 4wd 3.0 V6
pickup). I used a piece of old bed frame cut with my skill saw and a $2
metal cutoff blade. Newer bed frame might be too weak. You can probably
obtain some angle iron at your local home improvment store. Bolt the
angle iron together at one end to form a tight angled V (you will have
to drill a large hole and use a large strong bolt/nut). remove the four
bolts securing the air conditioner pulley to the front of the harmonic
damper. Use the air conditioner pulley holes as a pattern to make/drill
two holes, one on each piece of the angle iron at the opposite end from
where you bolted them together. Make sure you leave the large center
round hole completely unobstructed by the angle iron when you mark the
holes (otherwise the angle iron will interfere with the pulley locating
flanges on the front of the damper). The holes should be about 3/16"
from the inner edge of the angle iron. Take this assembly and bolt the
two holes to the front of the damper pulley using the air conditioner
pulley mounting bolts. Snug them up a little. It should fit flush
against the damper (I had to remove the air conditioner idler pulley
with a 14mm socket) and the bolted-together end should rest on the
ground (preferably concrete) about 2 feet to the left of the damper
(passenger side). Get a craftsman 1/2" drive 6 point 19mm socket, 1/2"
short ext and 1/2" breaker bar (thats what I used) and a two foot piece
of pipe over the breaker bar for leverage. Spray behind bolt flange
with WD-40. Wait two weeks (optional). Spray again. Attach
breaker/short ext./socket/pipe assembly to bolt squarely. Push upwards
from driver side. Bolt came loose easily for me. Safer than the starter
trick. Easier than the ring gear trick. Cheaper than buying/renting
expensive air tools. Hope that helps.

http://musicianlink.net/stuff/crudedraw.gif

"strategy400" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> To get the crankshaft bolt loose on my Toyota pickup: Get two sturdy
> pieces of angle iron long enough to fit from your crankshaft bolt to
> the ground at a 45 degree angle (about 30" on my Toyota 4wd 3.0 V6
> pickup). I used a piece of old bed frame cut with my skill saw and a $2
> metal cutoff blade. Newer bed frame might be too weak. You can probably
> obtain some angle iron at your local home improvment store. Bolt the
> angle iron together at one end to form a tight angled V (you will have
> to drill a large hole and use a large strong bolt/nut). remove the four
> bolts securing the air conditioner pulley to the front of the harmonic
> damper. Use the air conditioner pulley holes as a pattern to make/drill
> two holes, one on each piece of the angle iron at the opposite end from
> where you bolted them together. Make sure you leave the large center
> round hole completely unobstructed by the angle iron when you mark the
> holes (otherwise the angle iron will interfere with the pulley locating
> flanges on the front of the damper). The holes should be about 3/16"
> from the inner edge of the angle iron. Take this assembly and bolt the
> two holes to the front of the damper pulley using the air conditioner
> pulley mounting bolts. Snug them up a little. It should fit flush
> against the damper (I had to remove the air conditioner idler pulley
> with a 14mm socket) and the bolted-together end should rest on the
> ground (preferably concrete) about 2 feet to the left of the damper
> (passenger side). Get a craftsman 1/2" drive 6 point 19mm socket, 1/2"
> short ext and 1/2" breaker bar (thats what I used) and a two foot piece
> of pipe over the breaker bar for leverage. Spray behind bolt flange
> with WD-40. Wait two weeks (optional). Spray again. Attach
> breaker/short ext./socket/pipe assembly to bolt squarely. Push upwards
> from driver side. Bolt came loose easily for me. Safer than the starter
> trick. Easier than the ring gear trick. Cheaper than buying/renting
> expensive air tools. Hope that helps.
>
> http://musicianlink.net/stuff/crudedraw.gif
>
Thanks for the info. Nice to see homebuilt rigs work so well. Keep it
up--both doing and telling. s

I'm working on a camshaft tool now

"strategy400" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> To get the crankshaft bolt loose on my Toyota pickup: Get two sturdy
> pieces of angle iron long enough to fit from your crankshaft bolt to
> the ground at a 45 degree angle...........................................

Too much trouble, put the appropriate sized socket on the bolt, plug in a
long breaker bar, prop the bar against the drivers side frame and engage the
starter.
Deactivate the ignition system first. <BG>

strategy400 wrote:
> To get the crankshaft bolt loose on my Toyota pickup: Get two sturdy
> pieces of angle iron long enough to fit from your crankshaft bolt to
> the ground at a 45 degree angle (about 30" on my Toyota 4wd 3.0 V6
> pickup). I used a piece of old bed frame cut with my skill saw and a $2
> metal cutoff blade. Newer bed frame might be too weak. You can probably
> obtain some angle iron at your local home improvment store. Bolt the
> angle iron together at one end to form a tight angled V (you will have
> to drill a large hole and use a large strong bolt/nut). remove the four
> bolts securing the air conditioner pulley to the front of the harmonic
> damper. Use the air conditioner pulley holes as a pattern to make/drill
> two holes, one on each piece of the angle iron at the opposite end from
> where you bolted them together. Make sure you leave the large center
> round hole completely unobstructed by the angle iron when you mark the
> holes (otherwise the angle iron will interfere with the pulley locating
> flanges on the front of the damper). The holes should be about 3/16"
> from the inner edge of the angle iron. Take this assembly and bolt the
> two holes to the front of the damper pulley using the air conditioner
> pulley mounting bolts. Snug them up a little. It should fit flush
> against the damper (I had to remove the air conditioner idler pulley
> with a 14mm socket) and the bolted-together end should rest on the
> ground (preferably concrete) about 2 feet to the left of the damper
> (passenger side). Get a craftsman 1/2" drive 6 point 19mm socket, 1/2"
> short ext and 1/2" breaker bar (thats what I used) and a two foot piece
> of pipe over the breaker bar for leverage. Spray behind bolt flange
> with WD-40. Wait two weeks (optional). Spray again. Attach
> breaker/short ext./socket/pipe assembly to bolt squarely. Push upwards
> from driver side. Bolt came loose easily for me. Safer than the starter
> trick. Easier than the ring gear trick. Cheaper than buying/renting
> expensive air tools. Hope that helps.
>
> http://musicianlink.net/stuff/crudedraw.gif

A "chain wrench" can be used to hold the pulley still while using a
breaker bar and socket on the bolt. Cheap lower quality ones can be
had at places like Harbor Freight and Cummins Tools, while the tool
trucks sell better ones for considerably more. This method works on
any vehicle that offers suitable access (virtually all FWD and RWD
vehicles).

Use a folded rag between the toothed contact point on the head and the
pulley to minimize damage to the pulley grooves, then position it
against the vehicle frame and put all of your force into the breaker
bar.

Toyota MDT in MO

Does the chain wrench method work good? I almost bought one. I was
thinking it wouldn't hold or it would break or damage the pulley. A
chewed up pulley eating away at your belt doesn't sound good when it's
your personal transpo.

I don't like the starter method. I get images of a tool popping off,
flailing around and impaling my AC condensor or some other expensive
component, stripped/broken crankshaft, bolts and threads or some other
nighmare. It wasn't an easy option in my case anyway as my engine was
already partially disassembled (open electrical and fuel injection)
before I realized need to replace timing belt. Also the frame in my
vehicle is pretty cluttered with power steering lines/boxes and other
stuff I didn't want to have to remove or place at risk. I know millions
have used this method with great success but something about it says
"Danger... Will Robinson!" to me.

The angle iron method worked great for me, I didn't even have to think
about it. I could focus all my attention/effort on the bolt and breaker
bar.

One risk I could see is putting a slight strain on the damper/timing
gear key but nothing bad happened there in my case. The key only
extends about 1/4" into the damper.

To each their own, of course. Just offering up my experience with
another option for people struggling with this. It's obvious there are
plenty.

strategy400 wrote:


> I don't like the starter method. I get images of a tool popping off,
> flailing around and impaling my AC condensor or some other expensive
> component, stripped/broken crankshaft, bolts and threads or some other
> nighmare.


Don't fear it, embrace it. It WORKS- done it many, many times.

The trick is to get the wrench braced snugly with minimal slack in the
ratchet mechanism (or use a solid "breaker bar" instead of a ratchet)
and then just "bump" the starter briefly. That way nothing really moves
very far.

"John Kunkel" > writes:


>"strategy400" > wrote in message
roups.com...
>> To get the crankshaft bolt loose on my Toyota pickup: Get two sturdy
>> pieces of angle iron long enough to fit from your crankshaft bolt to
>> the ground at a 45 degree angle...........................................

>Too much trouble, put the appropriate sized socket on the bolt, plug in a
>long breaker bar, prop the bar against the drivers side frame and engage the
>starter.
>Deactivate the ignition system first. <BG>

I'd have to concur; this is what I did. Loctite the bolt when you put it back
in.

"strategy400" > writes:

>I don't like the starter method. I get images of a tool popping off,
>flailing around and impaling my AC condensor or some other expensive
>component, stripped/broken crankshaft, bolts and threads or some other
>nighmare.

It does sound like terrible things might happen, but in reality the bolt will
break loose immediately and simply spin in place. Of course, make sure your
ratchet direction is set correctly or you will make things interesting...

Ryan Underwood wrote:

> It does sound like terrible things might happen, but in reality the bolt will
> break loose immediately and simply spin in place. Of course, make sure your
> ratchet direction is set correctly or you will make things interesting...

Actually, make sure that the *engine rotation* is in the correct
direction for this trick or things will get interesting. The ratchet
will freewheel "safely" if it is set wrong. Even if everything is set
up properly, kickback from the engine can catch the ratchet in it's
drive position and throw it off.

And for the rare or exotic car, you may want to find out if the crank
bolt threads are left handed before making an assumption. The 3.0
Toyota V6 in question cranks in the correct direction for this trick to
work.

Toyota MDT in MO