Tips on breaking loose the balancer bolt?
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 643
Likes: 2
From: Alexandria Northern Virginia
Tips on breaking loose the balancer bolt?
Man I have been through the ringer on this one...in addition to special ordering a new return hose (the old one had about 100lbs of torque on it and sheered off even with a MAC line wrench) I CANNOT seem to get the flywheel secure enough to crank on that blasted bolt. How do you all hold the flywheel steady? Any suggestions? I saw the tool (Kent Moore J 42386-A ) and that blasted thing is a 100 bucks. Is there anybody who has a good technique?
I was considering some sort of way to hold the driveshaft securely, say a long open ended wrench around one of the bolts and then lean against the shaft. I am scared stiff about breaking a tooth off that flexplate (its an automatic).
Thanks in advance,
Cassidy
I was considering some sort of way to hold the driveshaft securely, say a long open ended wrench around one of the bolts and then lean against the shaft. I am scared stiff about breaking a tooth off that flexplate (its an automatic).
Thanks in advance,
Cassidy
Advanced
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 84
Likes: 0
From: Laplace Louisiana
If you're planning on changing your hermanic balancer and throwing the old one away put a pipe wrench on that sucker, it will cut small grove into balancer but so what, thats how I got mine off.
Race Director
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 15,960
Likes: 21
From: West Norriton PA
St. Jude Donor '08
Man I have been through the ringer on this one...in addition to special ordering a new return hose (the old one had about 100lbs of torque on it and sheered off even with a MAC line wrench) I CANNOT seem to get the flywheel secure enough to crank on that blasted bolt. How do you all hold the flywheel steady? Any suggestions? I saw the tool (Kent Moore J 42386-A ) and that blasted thing is a 100 bucks. Is there anybody who has a good technique?
I was considering some sort of way to hold the driveshaft securely, say a long open ended wrench around one of the bolts and then lean against the shaft. I am scared stiff about breaking a tooth off that flexplate (its an automatic).
Thanks in advance,
Cassidy
I was considering some sort of way to hold the driveshaft securely, say a long open ended wrench around one of the bolts and then lean against the shaft. I am scared stiff about breaking a tooth off that flexplate (its an automatic).
Thanks in advance,
Cassidy
BTW, I have all of the tools. Are you in a hurry ?? My bro who lives in the same town as you is coming up this weekend and I could send him back with everything you need to do the job.
Tony
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,312
Likes: 2
From: Lake Havasu City AZ
I am going to change heads so I plan on pulling one head and wrapping a piece of 2x4 in a rag then temporarily reinstalling the head. If your not, you could open the slot for the flex plate bolts and using a long breaker bar with a socket, hole one bolt at about the 2 o'clock position and hold it against the the shaft to stop it from turning. You will probably need at least a 24" breaker bar.
Good Luck.
Mike V
Good Luck.
Mike V
Pro
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 619
Likes: 1
From: ATLANTA GA
I am going to change heads so I plan on pulling one head and wrapping a piece of 2x4 in a rag then temporarily reinstalling the head. If your not, you could open the slot for the flex plate bolts and using a long breaker bar with a socket, hole one bolt and hold it against the the shaft to stop it from turning. You will probably need at least a 24" breaker bar.
Good Luck.
Mike V
Good Luck.
Mike V
Id recomend the holder tool, or using the brakes
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 933
Likes: 0
From: St. Paul MN
There is a special tool to lock the flywheel. You pull out starter and this grabs and locks flywheel.
BTW, I have all of the tools. Are you in a hurry ?? My bro who lives in the same town as you is coming up this weekend and I could send him back with everything you need to do the job.
Tony
BTW, I have all of the tools. Are you in a hurry ?? My bro who lives in the same town as you is coming up this weekend and I could send him back with everything you need to do the job.
Tony
Tony, was nice enough to borrow me the tools needed to do the job as well....real stand up guy
Unless you use the special tool you are risking damaging something. BTW when you put the new one on first you are going to need to use the old one and torque it to 250 lb ft. So if you do manage to get it off with someother scheme just remember you have to put it back on as well.
Use the tool, save a potential headache.
Race Director
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 15,960
Likes: 21
From: West Norriton PA
St. Jude Donor '08
Tony, was nice enough to borrow me the tools needed to do the job as well....real stand up guy
Unless you use the special tool you are risking damaging something. BTW when you put the new one on first you are going to need to use the old one and torque it to 250 lb ft. So if you do manage to get it off with someother scheme just remember you have to put it back on as well.
Use the tool, save a potential headache.
Unless you use the special tool you are risking damaging something. BTW when you put the new one on first you are going to need to use the old one and torque it to 250 lb ft. So if you do manage to get it off with someother scheme just remember you have to put it back on as well.
Use the tool, save a potential headache.
How's the differential and torque converter coming along ??
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 5,016
Likes: 508
From: Hilton NY
There used to be a path somewhere on here for drawings to make a simple damper holder, it rested on the front frame and prevented the damper from rotating. I made one and it worked well. If you go to getmetools and choose Schley # 62800 you will see a $60 tool that loosely resembles the homemade version.
Racer
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 426
Likes: 0
From: Northern Virginia
I am going to change heads so I plan on pulling one head and wrapping a piece of 2x4 in a rag then temporarily reinstalling the head. If your not, you could open the slot for the flex plate bolts and using a long breaker bar with a socket, hole one bolt at about the 2 o'clock position and hold it against the the shaft to stop it from turning. You will probably need at least a 24" breaker bar.
Good Luck.
Mike V
Good Luck.
Mike V
No problems.
THe real pain was removing the pilot bearing. Had to make my own tool for that one...
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 7,788
Likes: 6
From: Winchester TN
Cruise-In III Veteran
Cruise-In IV Veteran
Cruise-In V Veteran
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'11
Hi C4B4the04 -
You need a twin-hammer impact wrench and a good 6-point impact socket.
If that does not remove it, it will break it off and you'll be back to drilling and easy-outs.
best regards -
mqqn
You need a twin-hammer impact wrench and a good 6-point impact socket.
If that does not remove it, it will break it off and you'll be back to drilling and easy-outs.
best regards -
mqqn
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 643
Likes: 2
From: Alexandria Northern Virginia
Allright,
I found that the tool GM uses is 135 bucks and they wanted to hit me with a rush shipping charge of 35. For 170 I got creative at home instead
I used some 1/4 inch sheet aluminum I had and made a bracket that bolted onto two of the flexplate bolts. It worked great. Held everything just as still as the tool and I was able to get that bolt free with a 36 inch breaker and a piece of pipe wrapped around it. Took me a while to get the 140 degrees back on it (for those of you that have not put one on, you have to torque it to something like 37 ft. pounds and THEN index it to 140 degrees of rotation afterwards. That is quite a bit of pressure but I did get it).
My question to you that have done the crank pin, how hard was your pin to press in? Mine literally fell in, the outside diameter was .248 and I drilled a .25 hole. I just pushed and then tapped it with a drift to get it to go all the way in. The hole needed to be .75 deep and I drilled a .85 deep hole before I knew it. There was not much friction as I inserted the pin. Is that going to be a problem?
Thanks for the advice and the offer on the tools. Necessity is the inventor sometimes
Cassidy
I found that the tool GM uses is 135 bucks and they wanted to hit me with a rush shipping charge of 35. For 170 I got creative at home instead
I used some 1/4 inch sheet aluminum I had and made a bracket that bolted onto two of the flexplate bolts. It worked great. Held everything just as still as the tool and I was able to get that bolt free with a 36 inch breaker and a piece of pipe wrapped around it. Took me a while to get the 140 degrees back on it (for those of you that have not put one on, you have to torque it to something like 37 ft. pounds and THEN index it to 140 degrees of rotation afterwards. That is quite a bit of pressure but I did get it).
My question to you that have done the crank pin, how hard was your pin to press in? Mine literally fell in, the outside diameter was .248 and I drilled a .25 hole. I just pushed and then tapped it with a drift to get it to go all the way in. The hole needed to be .75 deep and I drilled a .85 deep hole before I knew it. There was not much friction as I inserted the pin. Is that going to be a problem?
Thanks for the advice and the offer on the tools. Necessity is the inventor sometimes
Cassidy
Race Director
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 15,960
Likes: 21
From: West Norriton PA
St. Jude Donor '08
Allright,
I found that the tool GM uses is 135 bucks and they wanted to hit me with a rush shipping charge of 35. For 170 I got creative at home instead
I used some 1/4 inch sheet aluminum I had and made a bracket that bolted onto two of the flexplate bolts. It worked great. Held everything just as still as the tool and I was able to get that bolt free with a 36 inch breaker and a piece of pipe wrapped around it. Took me a while to get the 140 degrees back on it (for those of you that have not put one on, you have to torque it to something like 37 ft. pounds and THEN index it to 140 degrees of rotation afterwards. That is quite a bit of pressure but I did get it).
My question to you that have done the crank pin, how hard was your pin to press in? Mine literally fell in, the outside diameter was .248 and I drilled a .25 hole. I just pushed and then tapped it with a drift to get it to go all the way in. The hole needed to be .75 deep and I drilled a .85 deep hole before I knew it. There was not much friction as I inserted the pin. Is that going to be a problem?
Thanks for the advice and the offer on the tools. Necessity is the inventor sometimes
Cassidy
I found that the tool GM uses is 135 bucks and they wanted to hit me with a rush shipping charge of 35. For 170 I got creative at home instead
I used some 1/4 inch sheet aluminum I had and made a bracket that bolted onto two of the flexplate bolts. It worked great. Held everything just as still as the tool and I was able to get that bolt free with a 36 inch breaker and a piece of pipe wrapped around it. Took me a while to get the 140 degrees back on it (for those of you that have not put one on, you have to torque it to something like 37 ft. pounds and THEN index it to 140 degrees of rotation afterwards. That is quite a bit of pressure but I did get it).
My question to you that have done the crank pin, how hard was your pin to press in? Mine literally fell in, the outside diameter was .248 and I drilled a .25 hole. I just pushed and then tapped it with a drift to get it to go all the way in. The hole needed to be .75 deep and I drilled a .85 deep hole before I knew it. There was not much friction as I inserted the pin. Is that going to be a problem?
Thanks for the advice and the offer on the tools. Necessity is the inventor sometimes
Cassidy
Racer
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 426
Likes: 0
From: Northern Virginia