pulley removal

i am reposting just in case there was soem conffusion about my question earlier because i need and answer tonight.. im having trouble pulling off the puller that sits in front of the timing chain cover. when i put a breaker bar on to losen the center nut it just turns over the whole engine.. samething wiht the 3 nuts that hold it in place they 2 are really tight and i just end up turning over the engine.. i tried putting it in gear wiht the park break on but this seemed to have no effect (*side note* my battery was already disconected when i tried putting it in gear, i doubt it but would this have an effect) any suggestions would be appreciated

i am reposting just in case there was soem conffusion about my question earlier because i need and answer tonight.. im having trouble pulling off the puller that sits in front of the timing chain cover. when i put a breaker bar on to losen the center nut it just turns over the whole engine.. samething wiht the 3 nuts that hold it in place they 2 are really tight and i just end up turning over the engine.. i tried putting it in gear wiht the park break on but this seemed to have no effect (*side note* my battery was already disconected when i tried putting it in gear, i doubt it but would this have an effect) any suggestions would be appreciated

i not a pro on this ... but have Haynes basic rapair book ... if i understand correctly ... you want the vibration damper pulley off that is lower infront of timing chain cover ... it says ... like you are trying, the center vibration damper bolt is usually very tight, so use a 6 point socket and a breaker bar to losen it (the 3 other bolts hold the pulley to the vibration damper). it doesn't say what to do if you can't loosen this bolt. i have to guess here you need to figure a way to stop this pully from turning. howabout a second socket and breaker bar on one of the 3 other bolts to resist pully turning while you apply force to center bolt ? or regular socket/ratchet with pipe or vicegrips or crowbar secured with wire or ring clamps attached for leverage power on that.

it does say when you get all 4 bolts and pulley removed you'll need a special puller to remove the vibration damper behind it ... not the claw type of puller as damper is easily damaged ... use 3 bolt type puller with original 3 outer bolts screwed back in to pull damper out.

think of an impact wrench, they dont put a bunch of force into something all at once, instead a lot of force in pulses, over and over again, with a cheeter bar if needed, proceed to "bump" it untill the bolt loosens up... make sure u keep the battery unplugged

stick a bar in the teeth of the flywheel

From your description, you must have an automatic transmission on your truck; if this is the case then putting the truck "in gear' will not solve your problem. The torque converter sits between the engine and trans and it is a fluid connection, hence your engine continues to turn over as you try and remove the damper bolt.

I don't know of any engine locks that will keep your motor from turning over, but there may be something like that available.... check with local autoparts shops, transmission shops and tool rental shops. Barring a nifty tool, here's a shade tree alternative......

You need to keep the engine from turning over. Go to the hardware store and buy some soft, cotton-based clothesline cord. Using either masking tape or some clothespins, mark each plug wire before your remove it (the better to get them reconnected right). Find the number one plug wire and trace it back to the distributor and mark it at the dizzy. Remove all the spark plugs from your engine, this is to make it easier to rotate the motor since there will be no compression to work against. You will need a proper socket for the damper main bolt and a breaker bar or cheater bar (a piece of pipe slipped over a standard ratchet). Now, using the number one cylinder, rotate the engine until you find Top Dead Center (TDC: the top of the compression stroke where *both* valves are closed); *make sure you rotate the engine in the same direction it rotates when it runs*. Finding TDC is releatively easy to do with reference to the timing marks on the damper; make sure you're at TDC, not 180 deg out. To check this, pop the dist. cap and using the marked #1 wire at the distributor ensure the distributor rotor is pointing to the #1 terminal area. You may have to mark the distributor body to help you figure this: before removing the distributor cap, mark the dizzy body right under where the #1 plug wire connects to it.

Once you're sure you've found #1 TDC:

Rotate the engine past TDC a bit to bring the #1 piston to a position just after TDC.

Now, get your clothesline and begin feeding it into the #1 cylinder thru the sparkplug hole. You want to put as much in as possible: this is going to create a block to prevent the motor from rotating as you wrench on the pulley bolts. The reason for finding TDC has to do with the valves; they will both be closed and this is what you want. If the valves are not closed, you run the risk of bending a valve with the rope block...not good. *DO NOT* cut the rope, you want to leave plenty hanging out of the plug hole so you can remove it.

When you apply force to the pulley/damper bolts to remove them, use an even push or pull, *do not* start wailing on it with a hammer... this is why you need a long breaker bar or cheater. That main pulley bolt had some major foot/pounds of torque applied to it when it was installed at the factory; it will be tough to remove. I hope you have a torque wrench for reinstalling the pulley.

Now, for the reinstallation process, you first need to remove the cord from the #1 cylinder; back off the piston from the rope block and be slow an careful pulling it out. Once all the cord is out, rotate the engine to a point just *before* TDC and feed the cord back into the #1 cylinder. You may want to cut off the old cord and use a new section. Again, use a steady push or pull to bring the main bolt up to proper torque and reinstall the other bolts, torquing them properly.

As you can see, this is a bit involved. If your think through what I've explained before doing it, you'll understand better what your going to be doing. Putting in some underdrive pulleys?

Good luck.... I hope this is worth it.

Mike

Use an impact gun. One time when a friend of mine got stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a broken timing belt we filled a 3 gal. air tank with one of those 12 volt tire compressors and used an impact gun to get the nut off. It only held enough air for a few seconds, but it was enough to break the nut loose without turning the engine over. Then we returned the impact gun to the store.

another method of doing this is the farmer method put your socket and breaker bar on the bolt and tap the breaker with some good blows with a regular hammer until it breaks free.

just keep in mind farmers didn't always have air tools

thanks for all the suggestions.. i tried the impact wrench but all i had around was one of those 500ftlbs ones so ya it didnt fit without pullin the rad.. in the end what i ended up doin was takin my old fan belt which was garbage anyway and put it around the pulley then got them to pull dam hard it held enough that i could loosen the nuts with a breaker bar