I’ve got a famous “timing chain whine” at 160K miles my Pathfider has and I’m using the “allergy time” to redo timing on it.
So, removed all the small stuff in front like hoses and such and found myself stuck at the removing the harmonic balancer. Even with an impact wrench it does not want to go.
By this point, I’ve tried:
Simply using impact wrench: forward, reverse, repeat => no dice
Heat with propane torch, impact driver => no dice
Liquid wrench, repeat prior steps => same
Tap on bolt flare with sledge-hammer using spacer (it has flare in place of washer, it is VERY wide) => same
I’ve applied more “liquid wrench” and tapped it more with a hammer, left until tomorrow.
The original Nissan dealer repair manual does not say much, other than “remove starter, install a special tool to lock flywheel, use breaker-bar”, but obviously I have no tool, besides other people complaint that tool is not getting a good fit against the teeth on the flange anyway and does not held well.
I remember you suggested this before to hold valves in place when replacing valve stem seals (this is on my TODO list in this “DIY session” too), but I did not think about using the same method to hold the crankshaft for heavy-breakage like this.
Is the problem that the balancer spins when you try to undo the bolt? Or that the bolt is just stuck?
If the former, when I did that job on my Corolla I noticed there’s a couple of small holes at opposite sides of the pulley, and so I made a tool (really just a fancy stick) with a strip of plywood and a couple of screws spaced so they just fit those holes, then wedged the stick against the floor to keep the pulley from spinning. A breaker bar and socket got the job done straight away at that point. Later on I discovered there’s a relatively inexpensive gadget called a “pin tool” made for just that purpose. Harbor Freight is one vendor. So look to see if you also got some little holes spaced 180 degrees apart on the face of your HB.
If the latter, besides rust penetrant, and alternating between heat and cold (ice cubes), try tightening the bolt a little first, then loosening it.
greendrag0n, please let us know if and how you got the bolt out.
I am trying to decide if it’s something I can do on my 1999 Honda, using a 1/2 inch drive breaker bar with a longer pipe. It would seem that the extreme torque required would mostly compress the rope ever more, ever more, but not enough would be transmitted to the crankshaft pulley bolt.
Everything went smoothly, exactly as @Tester suggested.
I traced when cylinder will have all valves closed, then traced back clock-wise to get piston to the very bottom, filled a couple of feet of rope inside, rotated bolt/crank counter-clockwise until it hit a wall, then used 3-feet pipe to help my break-bar to do its job.
Many thanks to @Tester for advise - it saved me from running around for the tool to anchor flywheel, not to mention it is known to work badly.
