@Bluegill
By the way, how did you wind up removing the water pump pulley?
Extra tension on the belt?
That “jar opener” you mentioned?
Best of luck to you, sounds like you are close to finishing. It always takes a good deal longer the first time you do something like this. Without a lift like a shop has, it is going to take you longer than what a shop manual says no matter how much experience you have. Next time you can probably do it in 4-6 hours.
You might try jacking up the engine? Make sure there aren’t engine or transmission mount bolts underneath that need to be removed or at least loosened before jacking up the engine much if at all. Otherwise you risk breaking something. I used a factory service manual, and it told me exactly which mounts I had to remove or loosen to replace the timing belt. Following the factory service manual instructions step by step are usually the best method.
@db4690 I couldn’t find the jar opener, but I did find a deflated latex party balloon that did the job. Extra friction between the belt and pulley. It’s in the toolbox now along with the other makeshift tools (coathanger hook on a dowel, flattened copper pipe gasket scraper, etc). Plus if someone has a birthday while I’m in the garage, I’m prepared to decorate.
@Bluegill
Thanks . . . now I understand
Speaking of extra friction, have you ever placed sandpaper between an oil filter wrench and the filter, for those extra tight ones?
I haven’t had to resort to it, but I heard it works pretty well
@db4690 I haven’t, but that’s a good trick to know. I could see it coming in handy one day, especially if the filter’s covered in oil and slipper gunk.
Here’s something else you can try that I figured out many years ago when faced with a particularly stubborn assembly and not many tools.
The screwdriver between heads trick works great if the bolt heads aren’t recessed inside the “dish” of the pulley. Then two offset wrenches work pretty well, one to hold and one to loosen. Sometimes you can squeeze the two wrenches together with one hand to loosen one of them. Another approach if you have room to hold both wrenches is to position the holding wrench so it doesn’t over tighten the bolt but simply holds the pulley from turning. The angles chosen are everything…
Along the same lines, I have been successful using only one wrench. Perhaps using clock positions will help describe it…
Pulley has 4 bolts. Position it so that they are at the 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock positions. To loosen the bolt at the 3 o’clock position, place the wrench such that the wrench is positioned like it is pointing at the 7 o’clock position relative to you facing that bolt head. Now position yourself off to the side of the 9 o’clock bolt head and push the wrench away from you.
Due to the angles, the pulley will not want to turn much if at all. Repeat for the other fasteners.