I've spent the better part of the past few days trying to get my HB to come off my 93, so I can change the opti, and water pump. MAN! What a poor design. I'd like to ring the neck of the GM designer who thought this up!
I got a rental puller from Auto zone. I figured out the bolts that came with it were not long enough, the one long end hangs past the inside hub. So I got 3 long bolts from Lowes. Got it lined up straight. Imagine my surprise when I started cranking on the center bolt of the puller really hard. I;m talking some serious foot lbs! Both hands on a 18" breaker bar! Still won't budge! Soaked it with WD40. Puonded on the underside. What up? I can't make the &%^( thing move! I'm very conserned about damaging the HB at this point, and affraid to crank any more. I know there have been other posts. I've read lots of em, and they've helped. What are the dangers? Can I damage the motor? I hate to keep extending the wrench, don't wnat to damage anything. Isn't ther a difference between the 92-94 HB, and the 95-96?
THANKS!

 

A couple of observations, hopefully helpful:

There are two components down there, the harmonic balancer and a hub. The HB attaches to the hub with 3 bolts; there is also a large center bolt that attaches the hub to the crank (you can see the end of the center bolt even with the HB in place). The HB sits tightly on the crank.

Now - if you are using 3 bolts through the HB with the puller, you are actually (I think) trying to pull the HB and the hub off at the same time.

Many people find that after removing the 3 bolts (and even with the center bolt intact) you can remove the HB by hand by rotating it side to side.

The basic puller approach is to use the puller center bolt against the head of the hub center bolt, if you see what I mean, and just pull on the HB.

You do not need to remove the hub to remove the opti - you may have to rotate the crank to get the hub in the right position to remove the opti.

I hope this helps!

Andy.

 

my best bet may be to use the puller but remove the bolt. It aint't movein from a simple tap.

 

You can remove the opti without removing the hub...


Pull the 3 bolts off the balancer... the hub has non concentric attaching points... if you rotate the hub you will find you can slip the opti off without removing the crank hub...

I have personally done this like 3 times with various modifications..

Mo

 

I got it off, the balancer without the hub. The trick (as it says in the posts) is a 2x2 from underneith and a hefty hammer. My problem is limited space with the car on Rino ramps. No room to swing a hammer. If I do it again I'll need to get the car up higher. I'm putting the new opti in this weekend. I took some time to experament with the shaft on the opti, it only goes in one way. But why? I can see no keyway. Now begins the slow arguious task of putting everything back together, and i took a bunch of stuff off!
I's soooo glad it finally came off.

 

Actually if you look at the shaft you will find on place where 2 splines are togther that is the key.I recommend installing it then pulling it out and putting it back in again to make sure you get it right.It should pop against the timing cover easily.It can be installed out of position don't ask me how I know.I also recommend putting a good seal of rtv around the cap and especially around the plug area.GM did a crappy job of sealing the plug the bead on the new one I bought was hanging on by one little spot 3/4 of it was loose.This is where coolant gets into the opti IMHO.

It goes back togther a lot easier than getting it apartit should take 2 1/2 hrs if you hit it hard to get it all buttoned up.Another tip I will give you on the balancer is to use 2 sockets one on the hub to hold it while you torque the balancer bolts.

 

I put red RTV around the seam, where it looks like it went together. Is that what you mean? I put it all around including the plug area.
I've got more then the usual stuff to put back. I took the radiator and shroud out to clean cause the radiator was dirty. The power steering cooler was removed to repear a leak. If everything goes back together smoothly it's on to ujoints and wheel bearings in the rear. Thanks for your help!

 

I had the same problem getting the crank hub off the first time.

The problem was that the puller was not pushing on the crank it was pushing on the hub. The hub has a hole the same size as the crank bolt and most pullers wont fit through the hole to push on the crank. So with the 18" breaker bar all you are doing is trying to rip the hub apart.

My 93 is a track day/ race car so unfortunately I have lots of opportunities to pull the balancer and hub.

Here is how I do it.

Remove the three bolts and remove the balancer, put some anti sieze on the surface that slips on the crank hub when you put it back together so you wont need to hit it with a 2x2 next time you want to remove it.

Remove the hub bolt (in the center of the hub). There is a thick washer on the hub bolt. Remove the washer and reinstall the bolt, when the bolt bottoms out back it off 5 turns. Install the puller so that the shaft pushes on the head of the bolt. I find that the shaft of the puller fits under the loop in the power steering line perfectly. The hub will start to move easily (compared to when you were pushing on the hub!). It will move about 1/4 inch. Loosen the puller and unscrew the bolt 5 to 10 turns and pull again. Be careful you do not want to damage the threads on the crank bolt (don’t ask me how I know) don’t unscrew the bolt too far to start the hub moving, use baby steps and it will come out easily.

Recently I have been using a piece of smooth bar stock that fits in the bolt hole and is long enough to pull the hub in one try.

 

sounds like the way i did mine..

see my corvette pics for visual..
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