I'm in the last stages of getting my 03 3.4 ready to drop into my 95 pickup. One of the last things on the agenda is to put in a new timing belt kit. I dont have the special flat bar tool that fits into the holes on the harmonic balancer to immobilize it. I don't have any air tools either, pretty much all i have is your average spread of sockets and wrenches. Has anyone done this before with something similar to what i have at my disposal? Any helpful ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

I used the fan holding tool from Oreilly's loan-a-tool program. The tool has holes that will accept 1/4" bolts, QED, it will hold the pulley. However, you will probably need >200 ft-lbs of torque to break the bolt loose, which is really hard to do when you have to hold with one hand and crank with the other. If you can borrow a buddies compressor and borrow or buy a cheap impact gun from Harbor Freight, you will have a much easier time of it. I didn't even have to hold the pulley to remove it, only when torquing it back on. I think I bought my gun for $30 or $40. You don't need a big tank on a compressor either since you're only doing one bolt.

Patrick

 

i had tried asking o-reilly for a few different things but never the fan clutch tool, didn't think to ask for that but i got one and it worked perfect, thanks man! timing belt is done, now just to finish up the oil pan modifications

 

If you had the oil pan off, you could have just wedged a piece of hardwood between a crank cheek and the block to immobilise the crankshaft.

 

pan was on but i took it off today and could have easily done that before, didn't think of that one

 

I did it with impact wrench. tightening it is another story. I wedge the flywheel with a piece of metal I had and tighten with a torque wrench and cheater bar.

 

One thing I've had good luck with is using an old belt. Rap the belt around the pulley tight and clamp it with a pair of vice grips. Hook the other end on something solid and it'll only turn till the slack on the belt tightens up. The harder you turn it the tighter the belt holds the pulley