I actually tried the same thing today. But I put the chain on the passengers side. After breaking multiple tools, 1 18" breaker bar and 2 19MM sockets, and the groves off the outer crank pulley (not PS pulley) I now have a rounded off crank bolt. I saw a post, I thought here, where a guy cut off the washer around the hex head with I guess a small cut off wheel. Anyone know the post or what tool he used.

 

small propane torch and a little bit of time works wonders.

 

get a better impact gun, and make sure it's oiled properly. i live in the northeast, and there's nothing my old no name brand $5 yard sale impact gun hasn't broken loose for me yet. (NE=rusty stuff)

i just pulled the crank pulley bolt off my truck today. took me less than a minute. stupid BHG.

if that fails, and the motor is still in the truck, remove all spark plugs, put a breaker bar on it with a 19mm socket, spin the motor by hand until said breaker bar is hitting something solid, such as the ground, frame rail, etc... then simply flip the key to start briefly. (if you don't remove the plugs, remove the coil wire) before i had an impact gun, that method always worked for me.

 

Be careful grinding it because you do not want to damage the crank. If you grind it all the way off, it should release the tension and the bolt should come out by hand after the pulley falls off. I would do it one of two ways:

1. Use a dremel and grind around the edges of the washer until it is skinny enough to fit it through the pulley.

2. Use a hand grinder, grind as even as you can, and when the bolt and washer looks thin, try pulling the pulley off with a puller. If you grind the bolt thin enough, the puller will be able to break off the rest of the thin washer. Using that method, you will not grind the crank and you might not even damage the pulley.

I read somewhere about a guy welding a large rod to the bolt to make a handle to twist it out. That should work, just put the ground of the welder directly on the pulley so you do not damage any bearings in the engine or melt a ground strap.

 

Exactly! Not all 1/2 impacts are the same. The cheap 49 dollars guns aren't worth crap. I've got an IR gun that will take off anything I've thrown at it, including a crank pulley bolts. If your gonna use an impact, do yourself a favor and look at the torque specs. before you buy it. I think mine is rated at 650 max.

 

^ i got mine for $5 at a yard sale. hasn't let me down yet!

 

This site is wondeful for ideas and moral support. Working on autos is such a lonesome adventure...

Since I had already destroyed the crank pulley with the chain wrench (with a good pad) I did not worry about it. Took a 4" makita grinder, adjusted the shield, leaned over with a light from below and let the sparks fly.

I had to cut 4 groves, almost thru the washer. then I easily turned the bolt with a new socket and breaker bar.

The pulley came off easy. Now I need to get a new pulley and timing chain kit and fix the pinhole leak in the water pump jacket that caused all this misery.

Thanks for being here to everyone. If anyone wants a picture email me.

tera119@earthlink.net

 

all you guys are crazy wedging things in the motor and using the starter just take the dust cover off the tranny and put a socket on the flywheel or torque converter depending on vehicle or year and that will wedge against the back of the motor or bell housing and use a breaker bar on the crank guaranteed not to hurt anything on you or the vehicle its one of the oldest tricks in the book and that is the way they recommend in the FSM for my T100

 

Interesting thread. I hope I'm not in for a nightmare. My harmonic balancer looks like it is wobbling. Guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

Oh, and by the way... I'm not sure about the previous description for SR5. I'm pretty sure it was first used on the Corolla. In 1973 they made an S5 and an SR5 model. I had one, and a '74. They had a 2TC engine. I still have the brochure around here somewhere. I'll see if it explains the designation.

 

Bump the starter. Quick and easy.

SR5
"S" I can't remember though I think it's Sport
"R" is from the R series motor (18R, 22R, 22RE etc)
"5" 5 speed transmission

This was corrupted a long time ago and morphed into an upgrade package. Later on "Limited" became the top model and SR5 became the basic model.

 

Excellent method! I tried it today works 1st time not hard at all. The materials are very inexpensive 2 ft chain, 3 bolts.

 

im going around on crank bolt posts and tellin people my way to do things...just take the motor to 90 degrees past tdc and then pull the spark plug from number one cyl....fill hole with oil and put plug back in[3.0 motor,,adjust hole to your job]...
then put your socket on the bolt and take the stoopid thing off....my bro-in-law and i just took off a 600 ft pd. crank bolt this way and the beauty is that this way will have the least chance of damaging something..the oil will hold back mass force and works great...why risk damaging stuff no matter how small the chance? use the uniform displacement of the oil...PLEASE..tx.. my .02 cents

 

It's really easy to build a tool to hold the crank pulley. In my opinion, that is the best, easiest, cleanest, safest method. The tool that I built works in both the 3.4L and the 3.0L. It's basically a piece of 1/4" plate with two grade 8 bolts sticking out parallel with the required spacing to match the holes on the crank pulley. I then welded that piece of plate to a 4 foot long piece of pipe that I had laying around the garage. It works perfectly for removing and re-torquing the crank bolt. It also works to hold the cam pulleys on both engines. Total cost was a couple of dollars for the bolts... everything else was scrap metal that I already had.

 

X2...

 

I'm going to have to agree with the whole "not all impact guns are created equal" statement. I have a 1/2" IR with 1100 ftlbs of reverse impact.... amp up your air a bit and whammo..... no crank pulley problem

 

i use a MAC 1/2 impact at work... cost me 300 bucks, and its the strongest gun in my shop. the tool truck guns are great... pricey, but great.

 

ived use the breaker bar on a wood block resting on the frame, bump the starter.

to install ive put the truck in 5th gear and blocked the wheels. when i rebuilt the one for my 4runner (automatic) it was still hanging by the hoist and i jammed something in the flexplate. (but dont remember how)

 

I like the chain idea, why didn't I think of that?

I did a pretty simple tool from a plate of aluminum scrap I had laying around.

One large hole in the middle to clear the pilot features on the balancer and 4 holes to put bolts into the balancer.

The end of it rests on the frame rail on either side, torque away!!

 

Does the breaker bar on the frame with a 1/2 inch 19mm, and engine crank only work for 22r?

 

Have my 3.0 out of the truck for full rebuild. Had to use 3/4 impact gun to get bolt out.