So... I'm completing a head gasket repair on my 91 SR5 truck w/ the 3VZ-E engine, and I'm stuck trying to get the cam sprocket bolts off which were previously reinstalled using loctite. I've tried a 350 ft/lbs electric impact wrench, then stepped it up to a 600 ft/lbs air impact wrench even trying to heat the bolt up with a torch to perhaps re-liquify the loctite. Also, I can't unbolt the cylnder head because the cam is in the way of the upper cynder head bolts. Any cost effective ideas on how to get these bolts off? Hopefully the YotaTech community may have some solutions I haven't thought off, sans drilling the bolts out as my last option. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

have u seen if u can hold the cam in place i think there is a spot to put a open end wrench on it and hold it, use breaker bar with pipe over to make it longer and try that.

 

justin_4runner, thanks for the response! I believe I attempted your suggestion on my first attempt at these bolts. If I'm understanding what your describing, I held a 10mm deep socket with an extention on a bolt behind the cam sprocket to prevent the cam from moving. I then put the ole 1/2" breaker bar with a 3 ft pipe on the end and put all I had into it with no luck. That's when I went the impact wrench route still utilizing the 10mm deep socket trick. Further compounding my problems is I think loctite is on the crank bolt too as it did not budge with the 600 ft./lbs. air impact either. Was the 10mm deep socket trick what you were refering to when you meant "hold the cam in place"?

 

On the middle of the camshaft is a square profile.
It is a lot bigger than a #10. Probably a #20 or 22, I really don't remember.
Put a large open end, or a large crescent wrench on the profile and rest it on a piece of wood so the wrench doesn't bugger the head.
Use an impact socket (black) on the cam gear bolts with a breaker bar and a piece of pipe if needed for leverage.
Good Luck.
Art.

 

A good pully holder tool will keep you from risking snapping the camshaft, ask me how I know. Impacts need the the cam to be completely solid/free of any movement. Otherwise the movement absorbs the whole point of the impact tool (THE IMPACT). In vest in a good pulley holder or see if you can rent one from a chain parts store (O'riellys and such)

 

Some tool ideas:

https://www.yotatech.com/51094700-post10.html
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...e-tool-191312/
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...lt-job-122420/
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...l-tool-186081/
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...h-3vze-137934/
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...ol-sst-161133/

 

LOL... Good stuff everyone! I really appreciate all your input. I'm off to try these new suggestions, and with a little luck and preserverence hopefully I'll be good to go. sb5walker, thanks for all the condensed links, I've actually read a lot of those before (in my favorites folder) and thought I could shortcut making these, but I may have to after all. If your interested, I'll report back with a status update. Thanks again all!

 

no i was talking about the spot that zartt mentioned. that's how i had to get mine off and i thought i was going to break the breaker bar just as the bolts let go. but good luck...

 

I once had to use a 3 Ft snap on breaker bar with a 6 ft black iron pipe over it to break a bolt loose. It looked like a friggin bow before it broke the bolt. Never seen iron pipe bend that much...

 

To put some closure on this matter, I wanted to let everyone know that last night, mission was successful. I ended up using all the methods we discussed in the thread to break the cam sprocket bolt. I didn't even have to use the air impact wrench!

Steps for anyone searching for info on this topic later down the line are outlined below. (NOTE** Highly suggesting having an extra set of hands helping you. i.e. its a 2 person job in my opinion.)

#1.) Place and hold a 12" crecent wrench or a 27mm open end wrench on the square portion of the shaft in the middle of the cam. Place a block of wood between the wrench and cylnder head to avoid any potential damage to the head material.

#2.) Additionally, place and hold a 10mm deep socket with an extention on the bolt head behind the cam sprocket. (i.e. the bolt is holding in the#3 timing belt cover). This allowed me to have two holding spots for better counter leverage.

#3) Lastly, place a 17mm socket on a 1/2" breaker bar with a 3'-5' steel pipe on the end and turn the bolt counter-clockwise like a mo'fo'.

Moral of the story.... Just a little loctite goes a long way, so use it very use sparingly as the stuff really holds. Another suggestion that I did not try but thought was noteworthy was take an oxygen-acytaline torch and heat the head of the bolt up to cherry red, then try to get the bolt off using the socket and breaker bar/pipe combo. As everyone has already said in the forum, breaking those cam sprocket bolts is/was a PITA and especially so when loctite is involved!

McGyver moment of the evening. When trying to break the crankshaft bolt, I drilled through one of the flanges on a fencing t-post the bolt layout on the crankshaft pully. I then bolted the drilled out t-post to the crankshaft pulley and held the fence post in place while loosening the crank bolt with the applicable 19mm socket and 1/2" breaker bar/pipe combo.

NOTE*** To get the correct bolt layout, I removed the power steering drive belt pulley and marked where the two holes lined up on the flange.

Thanks to everyone who commented, and finally with this hurdle cleared I can make some more progress. Cheers!