Cardad02

I have a 93 LT1 automatic and I have begun the process of replacing the water pump, hoses, and optispark. With the help of this fourm, all has gone smoothly - until i came upon the crank shaft balancer. Every time I attempt to remove the three bolts, it spins. I even tried putting the belt back on. I also attempted to use a breaker bar and an adjustable wrench as leverage. know that the usual problems occur once the bolts come off, but I am out of ideas. Any advice is appreciated.

Silver96ce

Put a long breaker bar on the center crank bolt to keep the crank from turning- use a 5/8 socket. Then use another breaker bar to loosen the bolts.

Cardad02

Thanks. It worked perfectly. Now working on soaking the pulley with PB blaster.

jph46

Just did mine, used a pry bar behind the balancer, very gently. See if you can get it to rock from side to side, the PB Blaster did the trick on mine. Would only suggest this if your planning on replacing the opti.

gdl2165

Just did mine as well, I used a 4" 2-jaw puller. Had to disconnect the power steering fluid line to get it in there but it only lost a few drops of fluid. I first tried the 'beat on it with a stick' method from underneath but mine was so solidly frozen on that didn't work.

Silver96ce

I would be quite careful about using a pry bar behind the hub pulley. That timing cover is easily damaged and, though I haven't checked, probably expensive to replace. In addition, the hub is two pieces - inner section and outer ring with rubber sandwiched between. Pry by accident in the wrong place and you'll damage the hub pulley.

Instead use the "whack it from underneath" method. It consists of a long piece of wood and a hammer. From underneath the car put one end of the piece of wood against the inner ring of the hub and whack the other end with the hammer. The hub has an outer ring and inner ring sandwiched together by a strip of rubber. So only hit the inner ring otherwise you may damage the hub.

After a couple of hits if it hasn't started to come off, rotate the hub using a breaker bar on the 5/8 center crank bolt. Then repeat until it comes off. Before you start you may want to keep soaking the hub in penetrating oil for a couple of days.

When you put the hub back on the snout put a good amount of anti-sieze on both sides where they contact. Made it so much easier the second time I had to take it off.

Good luck.

Silver96ce

If you use the puller method make sure you put the arms through the holes on the inner part of the pulley and pull from there. If you pry from the outer ring of the hub you risk damaging the hub by pulling the outer ring off the inner ring.

gdl2165

Excellent point, I should have included that in my post. Although, with the 4" puller you really don't have any other option.

hcbph

There are strap wrenches in various sized like these:
http://www.grainger.com/search?searchQuery=Strap+Wrench&cm_mmc=P PC:+MSN+Main+4-_-Fleet%20and%20Vehicle%20Maintenance>Auto motive%20Mechanical-_-Oil%20Filter%20Wrenches>Strap%20Wrench>E xact-_-Strap%20Wrench&adgrpID=1096293940&kwdID= 20285065619&ef_id=VOH68gAAAa@2fS3F:20150 216141306:s
I wonder if they'll old in this situation. I've used them many times on small engines with great results

Cardad02

Thanks for all of the advice. I used the PB Blaster, then waited about 40 minutes before using a pry bar (about 7 firm hits on the left and right sides) to ease it out. Unfortunately I took it out and immediately cleaned it. I then noticed the gold marking arrow. I did not pay attention to exact place I pulled it from. What are my options?

Silver96ce

On the hub snout on the crank you will notice a raised bump in between one of the hub pulley attachment legs. Line the arrow on the hub pulley up with this bump when you reattach it.

Here's a link to a photo showing the bump -

http://diysrc.com/wp-content/uploads/img_0617.jpg

Cardad02

Thanks for the update. I'm going to clean-up the engine bay before installing the new parts this weekend.