884runner

the crank pulley on my 3.0 won't stay on. When ever i turn on my engine the bolt that holds the pulley to the crank unscrewes. the bolt is not stripped or anything so i'm guessin is a harmonic valance(spelling) problem.when i tighten the bolt back on it get's as tight as it can but then when i start the engine it becomes loose again and the pulley starts to come off and hits the fan making a pop corn sounding noise and then the belts come off. Is there any way to fix this at home or do i gotta tow it somewhere? thanks

rimpainter.com

You mean harmonic balancer. Anyway, the bolt you are attempting to tighten has an insane torque requirement. Are you going by the factory specs? Are you using a torque wrench or what?

I cant remember what it is, but I know it's one-hundred something.

growinseed

The 22R is 116ft/lbs

Marc

the 3VZ-E is 181 ft. lbs according to my Haynes and Chilton manuals

884runner

how do you fit a torque wrench where the bolt is b/c the fan and radiator are right infront of it. do i have to take all of that off too. and is there supposed to be like a bearing or something between the bolt and pulley so the pulley doesn't unscrew the bolt?

rimpainter.com

Tech's at Toyota go from the bottom, and use an air gun then a torque wrench.

Dont forget, most of this stuff was designed to be accessed via lift.

Firefyter-Emt

Yep.. Find a shop that will hammer it back in with lock tight and an impact gun.. Most impact guns, wide open, will not hammer the bolt in too tight. It is next to impossiable to tighten without the proper SST to hold the crank still.

Reed23

I would definately pull the fan, it should only be 4 10mm nuts, after that just make sure you have a good T wrench

Toyo22R-E

Actually at our shop we do not use an impact gun unless the radiator happens to be out (I don't remove the radiator for this) or the engine is on a stand. I use a chain wrench (with a cut section of a drive belt to protect the pulley) and a 1/2 inch torque wrench (or breaker bar) and a 19mm shallow socket. If your truck happens to be a 5 Spd, you could put it in high gear, set the parking brake and this would do the job of the chain wrench. Hope this helps.

884runner

thanks guys, but do you think it would be better if i just towed it somewhere and let them do it b/c i don't think i will be able to properly tighten the bolt tight enough.

oly884

I'll put it this way, I almost pulled my back out to tighten my crank pully to 181 ft/lbs. There is a trick to it, you need the crank pully holder. It's really hard to explain how it works, I went to a toyota dealer and borrowed one of theirs.

MTL_4runner

You will probably need a pipe extension on both the chain wrench and the ratchet to get enuf leverage to get the bolt on tight. I used a 3 foot pipe extension on mine (and I am not a small guy) just to give you an idea. Go with 4 foot if you can find some around. Just be careful cause with that much leverage the socket can't be allowed to slip or you will round off the bolt head something fierce.

884runner

on the crank pulley there is a slot cut in to it like a deep groove, and on the shaft it has a piece that slides into the grove but on mine the piece that extends off the shaft that fits into the groove doesn't run down the whole length of the shaft so i don't know if it is even fitting into the groove on the pulley. is it supposed to or is it supposed to stop. If it's supposed to go all the way down the shaft then i think mine was filed off or something and that's why the pulley is unbolting hte bolt. Any ideas on this. Please help b/c i tired of driving my busted A$$ chevy around and i want my rig back. thanks

szf2

I wrestled with my HB bolt on my 3.0L forever trying everything I could think off. Couldn't use the high gear/ parking brake trick since I have an auto. Couldn't get a strap wrench tight enough around the crank pulleys and couldn't get anything wedged into the crank pulleys tight enough to keep them from turning. Almost made me want to retire my shade-tree-mechanic badge. I finally came up with the following tool which I made from some 2" flat and an old scrap pipe:





It basically bolts to the pulley using the bolt holes that are already there and keeps the crank from turning. If you don't have a tool like this and don't want to make one, I would go to a shop. It will save you a ton of hassle. Also, I removed the fan and radiator at while doing this (I was replacing the T-belt) and access was no problem. I would remove the fan at least. My $0.02.

rimpainter.com

Cool idea. Man, that engine looks like it has seen better days!

szf2

LOL. My engine was having a bad picture day.

884runner

wow that tool is awesome. and thanks to everyone for their help. I think i finally got it tight enough b/c it's not comming out or loose and i just drove it (mildly) and all is well. i think the thread locking compound is helping alot. i'm just glad to be able to look down on other cars now instead of them towering over me. thanks all, alan

DH6twinotter

IMHO, the best thing to do is to make a tool like svf2 did. I made a tool very similar to his when I took that crank bolt off also. I just went to a local metal shop and bought a peice of 1/8"x4"x3' steal and drilled some holes in it. Works great and is a very handy tool to have around for later projects. You can use it to keep the harmonic balancer from rotating when you tighten the bolt. I placed the handle section under the frame rail and turned my rachet with a pipe on the end. (AutoZone has a free loan-a-tool program that you could get a torque wrench from to save a few bucks)

You should be able to tighten the bolt from underneath your truck. You will have to remove the skid plate first though.

Well, that's my thoughts on that.
Have fun all.
DH6twinotter

TOR

If it does it again I would replace the pulley. I am a bit surprised you were able to get it back on with no difficulties. It sounds to me as though the pulley got damaged and is allowing the key way to pass up its groove. If it does it again this is what I would lean towards personally.

Todd

MTL_4runner

If the key is moving then use a little RTV silicone to hold it in place.
Not recommended but a cheap fix indeed.