what are my odds, without an air impact wrench?

Harmonic balancer slips, so i've tried tieing a rope to the holes in the balancer, and using all of my strength get the that bolt loose.

no luck yet. engine really moves, from the force.

will try getting some more leverage, by putting a pipe at the end of the socket wrench.

am i fight a lost battle here? have the part, maybe should just take to the local garage.

any suggestions?

remove the starter and lock the flywheel with a screwdriver tip. Have someone on the other side of the car help you with the breaker bar. It takes less than 200 pounds of pull to break it loose. Child's Play!

Regards,
--
Will Dallas

Will,

I'm sure that method works (remove starter, etc,) but to me it sounds like way too much work.

Lacking the pulley holder tool, the Rope Trick will have the bolt loose in under 5 minutes—with no crawling under the car.

I do have the Volvo holder tool now, but used the rope method for years before that.

Just my opinion,

Bruce
--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

another cheer for the rope trick... fast, effective.
--
80 262C Coupe- (FSO black, M46, original) 82 244GLT- (auto)

I have removed many of these bolts on the 240 series cars that have the b20f by putting a pipe cheater on the ratchet handle, or whatever you are using on the bolt, that reaches the firewall and then using the starter motor to turn the engine over and break the bolt loose. It has never failed for me. Use something to protect the fender/firewall from damage like a very large rag wedged under the pipe or something. Either disconect the coil or get ready to turn the key off IMMEDIATLY after turning the engine over as one small "hit" with the starter will loosen the bolt. I have read that some crankshafts are cast instead of forged and that if you try to re-install the bolt on these cast ones it can break the cranshaft! Then you would be totally screwed!!! So put the bolt back on carefully using a torque wrench or at least not an impact wrench!
Good Luck!

Well, that worked fine. just a quick little tap did the trick.

now, getting the damn thing back on.

several concerns. very tight fit, putting the balancer on the shaft

worried that it's not exactly lined up witht he key.

i think it is, but maybe not.

so anwwy, the same probelm no exists, to get this tightened, need to stop the crankshaft, so now is the time for the rope trick i guess.

Just trying to find top dead center, by looking in the vavle cover.

Just trying to find top dead center, by looking in the vavle cover.

As you probably know, the important thing about the rope trick is to do it with the valves closed, which is why TDC for #1 is stressed. There are 4 things related to the (valves closed) #1TDC (assuming timing belt is correctly installed):

A - The front two cam lobes will be up and facing away from each other.

B - There should also be a mark on the cam sprocket that aligns with a mark on the back half of the belt cover.

C - The #1 piston will be at the top (poke something thru plug hole).

D - The Timing Mark on the balancer (pulley) should align with the 0° reference on the lower belt cover, which I assume is installed—since you have the pulley back in place.

IMO, the cam lobe position is important, because #1 and #4 pistons move up and down together. This means that conditions C and D will also occur for TDC compression on the #4 piston.

But in that case, the front two cam lobes would be pointing down and toward each other, opening valves at the beginning of the #1 exhaust stroke.

P.S. The bolt tightening torque spec is 44 ft lb, then an additional 60°.

--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

Well hey! I am glad that that worked for you! It sounds like there are a lot of other great ideas out there, but I have always been too lazy to try them.
I have to tell you that I am not at all familiar with the harmonic balacer that must be something different on the 700 series than on my 240 b20f engine... I just have the crankshaft pully. There is a key slot in the pully that fits onto the crank. I marked the distributor rotor to find TDC and verified by taking out the spark plug for cylinder #1. I think I have had to jam a screw driver onto the flywheel to tighten the bolt back up, but it seemed a lot easier to tighten it to speck than it was to remove it, but then thats usaully the case I guess. Hey maybe you can reverse the polarity on the starter and have it tighten the bolt instead of loosening it! Just kidding.
I guess the rope trick would work now too and I would feel better about using it to tighten the bolt as there would not be as much pressure used. Make sure the key is algined though for sure!

ipd sells a crank holder

http://www.ipdusa.com/ProductsCat.aspx?CategoryID=1427&NodeID=4536&RootID=629

this will hold it for you

I made a knock-off copy of the IPD crank holder using plans found in the 700/900 FAQ. Works like a charm...

You definitely need a pipe at the end of your wrench. I used a 3 foot pipe on mine, and it still took some effort.

To loosen my crank-bolt, I fabricated a tool out of metal to lock the crank-pulley in place. However, the last time I was at the junkyard without the tool, I removed the starter (yes I know - that's a job in itself.. :) and wedged a thick piece of metal (12-14 gauge) into the exposed flywheel-gear teeth. Worked great. [Edit: Another poster did this without removing the starter - by removing the plastic cover under the front section of the tranny]

Now I'm not suggesting you do this, since you could theoretically break a gear-tooth: I'm just saying it worked fine when I tried it, and it's nice to know what all the options are. Another option I've read about is removing one of the spark plugs, turning the engine until that particular piston is at the bottom of it's downward stroke, then stuffing part of a long length of thick rope into the cylinder to prevent the piston from moving up and allowing the crank to turn.

Noel

The "rope trick" works. One of many posts about is archived at—

http://www.brickboard.com/ARCHIVES/2001MAR/20135916.shtml

or just search on "rope trick".

Installation torque spec is 44 ft lb, then an additional 60°.

P.S. I always need a pipe extension on my 18" breaker bar, going both ways—that added 60° takes some doing for me.
--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

if you donot want to get AIR TOOLS
there are good 110volt el-trick impacks [I have a craftman,I got it used $45]
there are also DC/battery ones but they cost $$$ for a good one with real power
or the old style hand held and hammer $10 to 20 drivers
you can get those everywhere and they DO THEY WORK!!

The way I did mine was to crawl under & remove the little lip thingy at the front of the tranny, then stuck a screwdriver in the teeth of the flywheel. That allowed me to stop the engine from moving when I tried to crank on the bolt......

Worked for me.