The crankshaft bolt (which holds on the two of the three front pulleys) has be removed to replace the timing belt. The specified torque is 181ft-lbs, so you need to be prepared to put 200 or more on the bolt to get it off. But how do you keep the crankshaft from turning?

Naturally, there is a special tool which appears to bolt onto the pulley. (I've never seen one, but the Service Manual has a drawing.) It has a handle that looks to be 12 inches long, and shows our mechanic holding the tool with one hand, and a wrench with the other. 200ftlbs?

I've heard lots of other ways. One contributor (with a manual trans.) parks on a slope and leaves it in gear, hoping the weight of the truck will keep it from rolling. One suggested using a chain wrench, presumably right on the rim of the pulley. I've even successfully removed the rear flywheel cover and jammed the flywheel with a crowbar in the starter teeth. None of these sound particularly elegant.

So I decided to build my own tool. I got a piece of angle iron about 36 inches long. I placed the outer pulley (comes off with four 8mm bolts) on the angle iron and traced two bolt holes, and added two marks next to the bolt holes where a flange comes forward from the pulley (the four flanges appear to align the outer pulley). A 5/16" bit is close enough to 8mm, and the rest of the machining was done with the precision scalpel of metal working: the angle grinder. Grind the marks away.

I also needed to grind a little away to clear the 19mm socket.

Carefully attach this with two 8mm bolts to the pulley, with the angle iron pointing up. Snug these bolts tightly, they'll need to resist 300lbs of shear force! (Don't go crazy, they're only 8mm) (This photo was taken after the pulley was removed.) You'll need to rock it away from TDC a little or it will hit the water outlet. You'll now have 3ft of leverage to balance against your longest "breaker bar."



You need to hold onto the angle when wrenching; there isn't any place in that arc that you can lean it on. Even if you used a short enough piece to install horizontally, there isn't anything you can lean the wrench on that would take the force. I had no trouble reaching 181ftlbs with a 16" breaker bar in one hand and this shop-fabricated wrench in the other.

But wait, you say, my torque wrench only goes to 150! How do I torque those last 31 ftlbs? Another $250 will get you a 80-250 wrench, but that may be more than you want to spend. So you can use Hooke's law. Set your wrench to 119, and tighten it up. Now increase by 31ftlbs to 150, and install the torque wrench so it is parallel with the holding tool. Tighten it the next 31ftlbs to 150. Note the angle in the photo (I got about 20 degrees). Now take off the torque wrench and tighten it 20 degrees more with the "breaker bar." You're reached 181ftlbs, within the accuracy of your torque wrench.

 

Search - you can use the starter to break the bolt loose.

A 250 ft-lb torque wrench is like $100 at Sears.

 

pull out your #1 plug, crank ahead to about half way down the stroke, and insert a few ft of nylon rope, works like a charm, be sure to leave a foot or 2 hanging out.

 

That's a pretty clever tip. Most likely accurate enough for such an application... and saving money is always good.

Good approach on the tool as well. Seems like the more solutions out there to this problem the better. The starter trick works great for getting those bolts off, but tightening them back up has always been a problem for me.

Then I built this:



Mine is more complex... I like the fact that yours requires no welding.

Now that's one I wouldn't have never thought of. Very nice.

 

Personally I would think 100ft pounds would be quite sufficient to hold a 22r re crankshaft bolt on for a lifetime.

 

I made the tool with the piece of angle iron and it worked like a charm. Makes the timing belt job a whole lot easier and less stressful than doing the starter method. I broke two ratchets doing that lol.

 

You used a ratchet to do a breaker bar job? And you're wondering why they broke? You must be kidding me...

 

No, I know exactly why they broke, but I didn't have a breaker bar at the time, so I used a 1/2" ratchet in a pipe. Didn't work, so I made the angle iron tool which did work.

 

starter trick with breaker bar works like a champ. The only other way to do it is to remove the oil pan and block the crank. Have heard of the rope trick... Not for me but lots of people do it.

 

+1 on using the starter to break it loose. Just did this on my 3vze. Stuck a breaker bar on the crank bolt and positioned it where it would catch the rotation and cranked the ignition. Popped it off real quick like.

 

Yeah, yeah. The "starter trick." For the brave.

But how are you going to put that bolt back IN? You STILL need some sort of tool or method to resist 181 ft-lbs (a little less for the 22re) as you tighten the bolt. So the "starter trick" is, uh, exciting, but it doesn't save you from spending the $0.00 to build a tool.

Well, uh, can't I just use my impact wrench? Either you've got my original HF wrench, which would hit 75 ft-lbs on an average day. No good. Or you've got a no-kidding 1" Ingersoll-Rand, which will shoot right past 181 all the way to 300+ ft-lbs. Really no good.

 

I am about to torque my crankshaft bolt back on. And it looks like I will make that angle iron bar. I am glad I saw this thread, from which I can see that my particular bolt is the older style and requires 181 ft-lbs. On this thread one fella says, "by the way, use a new crankbolt or put LocTite on your old one."

1. Can anyone confirm the Hook's Law theory for using a 150l ft-lbs wrench. Especially after seeing the warnings about this bolt coming loose?
2. Any thoughts on the LocTite comment?

Also, I hadn't had to use a torque wrench before and ended up snapping of a water pump bolt. I got it off by drilling it out and hammering a bit in there, but I wish I would have seen on how to properly operate a torque wrench. Hoping that by seeing this someone else will avoid misusing one as well. The instructions in the box were the perfect mix of being way too technical, while totally vague and misleading.

 

Don't use Loctite. You'll never get the crank bolt out in the future. (Wow! A lot of bad advice to be found in that link. My "breaker bar" has engraved right on it "Don't use a pipe to extend this!!")

If you're not happy with Hooke's law for the last 31 ft-lbs, get a wrench that reaches 250 ft-lbs. (e.g., ) Your choice. Mine has worked fine, but that is a sample of one.

 

A lot of good tips. Just a couple of other ones.

- If you have a manual transmission, you can hold the crank by putting the truck in gear and setting the e-brake and/or chocking the wheels. BUT, you have to shift the transmission into high range 5th. DON'T use low range 1st as you would to hold the truck on a steep hill, because that minimizes the ability of the wheels to turn the engine. You want the opposite, to minimize the ability of the engine to turn the wheels. In high range 5th, a working e-brake or a simple set of chocks should easily hold the truck, even on level concrete in your garage.
Obviously, if you have an automatic you need a tool like scope built.

- To get a reasonably accurate 180 ft lbs, I use a pipe extension (my floor jack handle) on a breaker bar. I extend the pipe to a total wrench length of 3.6 feet (43.25 inches) and pull on the end with a 50 lb spring scale. 3.6 ft x 50 lbs = 180 ft lbs. This is as accurate as your spring scale and your tape measure and probably more accurate than most torque wrenches found in home shops.

 

This is mine that I mad. drilled a 3/4 hole for a short extension and 2, 1/2 inch holes for 3 inch bolts to go thru and engage the center of the pulley. Did not want to try the 8 mm bolts. My luck it would have sheered off. LOL . worked like a charm. The 3/4 dr ratchet helped.

 

I got the angle iron bar almost done at the shop at work. Those pulley bolts are really short. Wondering if the iron is quite a bit thicker than the pulley. Wondering if I should try to find slightly longer bolts to accommodate the difference. What is the chance they would sheer off as @amamike91 mentioned above.

Also, how bright do you have to be to use the technique above that utilizes a 150 torque wrench then a second 20 degree turn with a breaker bar. And, how tough is it to make that second pull? Do I need a cheater on the breaker to have enough muscle?

 

I didn't have any trouble figuring exactly how many more degrees of turn I needed, and I'm not that smart. But if you're worried about that (enough to post your concerns here?), the larger torque wrench is only $40. Your choice.

Can you "chin" yourself? If not all the way, just to lift your feet off the floor? Congratulations, you just pulled (_your weight_). With a 24" long torque wrench, to hit 181 ft-lbs you'd have to pull 91 lbs. No sweat.

I would never use a "cheater" bar on any tool; it's a really good way to get hurt (not to mention wrecking a $40 tool). The only "reason" that might justify it is that pulling 91 lbs might make you a little "shaky." Using an extension means you can hit a torque well within the limits of the tool, but by pulling over a greater distance with less force. But no one recommends a "cheater" for that reason; they all want to well exceed the designed capacity of whatever wrench they are "cheating." Don't do that.

 

I agree with Scope103 about never using a cheater bar on any tool. I know first hand the pain. Senior coworker requested my help to break loose a 4 inch pipe fitting. 2 of us bouncing on a 48 in pipe wrench wasn't gettin it, so he came up with a pipe that would slide on the handle. One bounce and it bent to the ground and landed on my foot. Fractured toe , and i was wearing steel toe boots. So if you think it will work, just think it thru. We did not get it loose and i cussed him for the month.

----------------------------
1990 v6 4wd auto XCab SR5

 

Any time you are gonna have the oil pan off, all you have to do to imobilize the crank is to block a crank cheek with a piece of wood.

 

I made up the bar. I decided to use slightly longer bolts and add some washers. It was very easy to torque it to 150. Then I gave it an extra tug with a breaker bar but figured I better not yank on it too hard so hopefully I got close enough. Everything is back together and running well. Did a coolant flush and burp. Crossing my fingers over the next week or two that everything holds up well. Thanks for the bar design.