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Tightening a crank shaft pulley


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impact wrench or with a socket wrench and a long pipe or a breaker bar. bolt and crank are iron, you won't strip it. if you meant "how do i hold the engine in place while i do this", is it a manual or automatic transmission? for a manual put it in gear, put e-brake on and chock the wheels as best you can. for an auto remove the bell housing access plug and look for the hole in the flexplate, insert a stout 3/8" extension in the hole to keep the engine from turning over. this has been asked dozens of times as well, so there are plenty of useful threads on here if you run into issues or arent' comfortable with it.

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Also, if you have a chain wrench (I got a 24" chain wrench from Harbor Freight for $20 including shipping), you can wrap the pulley with some old belts, secure them by duct tape for pulley protection and use that chain wrench to hold pulley in place. Same chain wrench can be used in the same manner for cam pulleys bolt tightening. It is quite simple for one person to do. If I could do it, I think anyone can. :cool:

Good luck.

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Here's a pic of that 24" Harbor Freight chain wrench in use on the crank pulley on my '00obw. I'll be doing my '96 next and I think I'll try the 3/8" extension in the flexplate method. I don't like to use the chain wrench on the cam sprockets as I think it slightly deformed it.

 

Also, it is fairly important to get the right torque on the crank pulley bolt when tightening. There are a number of posts showing how the crank keyway got all hogged out because the bolt loosened.

crankpulleybreaker1.jpg

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I loosened mine using the "bump the starter" trick, and to tighten it i shoved the car in gear with a friend standing on the brake pedal.

 

I just want to ask tho - how much force should i be putting onto that bolt to tighten it. Is it a case of just givin it hell or do i need a specific torque?

 

I dont own a torque wrench and cant afford a good one, when it comes to important things like head bolts i can beg/steal/borrow one.

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The recommended torque depends on engine phase. For my '00obw it said to put oil on the threads first, torque to like 33 ft*lbs(f) first, then torque to like 138 ft*lbs or something making sure it turns at least 65 degrees. I used blue loctite instead of oil; 5000 miles so far no loosey.

 

Anyway, there are stories out there about the crank pulley bolt loosening so it's not a bad thing to make sure is done right and maybe checked after some thousand miles.

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The recommended torque depends on engine phase. For my '00obw it said to put oil on the threads first, torque to like 33 ft*lbs(f) first, then torque to like 138 ft*lbs or something making sure it turns at least 65 degrees. I used blue loctite instead of oil; 5000 miles so far no loosey.

 

Anyway, there are stories out there about the crank pulley bolt loosening so it's not a bad thing to make sure is done right and maybe checked after some thousand miles.

 

exactly what he said, i did just that, and 7000KM and did not loosen, with blue locktite. Im sure these bolts and threads can handle OVER 140FT-lbs. 138-140 is perfect.

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Im sure these bolts and threads can handle OVER 140FT-lbs. 138-140 is perfect.

 

So if ive grasped the laws of physics that would be the same as myself stood on the end of a foot long wrench?

If thats the case i think ive got it covered......definately time to add a torque wrench to my tool kit.

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