The Pre-'90 Gawd Almighty Crank Bolt Redux

[edk]

Ok, OK...it's been discussed before, but I am sorely pissed about the amazing difficulty in getting the damn crank pulley bolt out. My '86 Accord does not have the hex cutout inside the pulley, so it can't be held in place. I've tried wedging a screwdriver in the rotor vent to keep the shaft from turning, but dude, it looks like something is gonna break so I backed off on that. I've read where wedging a big screwdriver in the ring gear might hold the whole thing, but I don't know how to access that (like ring gear on flywheel?). BTW, I've tried an electric impact wrench with specs 'up to 230 ft lbs', but I hear the bolt needs at least 375 ft lbs. I'd be happy just to replace the water pump and let the timing belt go, but I now realize the lowest water pump bolt is underneath the lower timing cover. Tech-friendly these pre '90's are not. I have no way to hold this pulley in place since it's the 'holes around the perimeter' version of pulley. Any help here? Can't afford a mechanic.

[2oodoor]

old school way was to slide a cheater bar over your 1/2 inch pull handle.. attach to nut, and let it lay streight under the pulley. Then bump the starter to turn the crank. Make sure you have it laying on the correct side to loosen it not tighten.

[Doward]

Yep, talking about the ring gear on the flywheel/flexplate.

My IR Titanium (does 650 ft-lbs) yanked that bitch right off no issues @ 175psi.

[edk]

old school way was to slide a cheater bar over your 1/2 inch pull handle.. attach to nut, and let it lay streight under the pulley. Then bump the starter to turn the crank. Make sure you have it laying on the correct side to loosen it not tighten.

I have tried that, no luck. Getting into other sites other posts, that method is NOT advised. Supposedly that method is actually tightening the bolt, and damage may occur. I have used that method on Toyotas no problem. This bolt DOES come out counter-clockwise....correct? The engine also turns counter, facing the drivers side. All driver side Honda bolts on Youtube are coming out counter-clockwise. Dang this rips.

[stat1K]

do you have a friend?

5th gear, brakes slammed, breaker bar and a jack stand to support the extensions has never failed me yet.

[89T]

do go on...

[itzdave]

do you have a friend?

5th gear, brakes slammed, breaker bar and a jack stand to support the extensions has never failed me yet.

always worked for me, worst case scenario...

[RLong31]

He's saying to have a friend jump on the breaker bar... haha. Sounds like it could work.

It took two mechanics at the auto hobby shop on base to break mine loose. All the impact wrenches in the world couldn't get that stupid thing off.

[Dr_Snooz]

If you have an automatic transmission, drop a socket extension, screwdriver, etc. down the timing light hole in the transmission bell housing. The drive plate will catch on it and hold very well. If you have a manual transmission, put a wheel on the ground and put it in gear before tackling the bolt.

The most important step is retightening. The torque spec for the pulley bolt is 108 ft-lbs. If you tighten it to the right spec, you won't have to fight it later. If you don't have a good click-type torque wrench, it's a good investment.

[POS carb]

put it in 5th or park, ebrake on, and use an impact on reverse. the starter thing won't work on a counter-clockwise motor.
the wheels must be on the ground or locked with the brakes if off the ground. if you can't find anyone to hold the brakes, keep the passenger tire on the ground you can jam the driver rotor using a screwdriver in the vents.

as a last resort:
if you put a breaker bar facing towards the rear, you can use the weight of the car to push the bar up. I had to do this to my tranny drain bolt once. make sure you are loosening (handle towards rear), not tightening (handle towards front of car) put a block under the handle and lower the car down till you hear "pop" and pray it was the bolt. remember, pb blaster is your friend!
:)

[Oldblueaccord]

Keeping the wheels on the ground is a good point. Its possible to break the gears in the trans if you rely on it to hold back the force of a 4 foot cheater bar. :nervous:


wp

[POS carb]

Keeping the wheels on the ground is a good point. Its possible to break the gears in the trans if you rely on it to hold back the force of a 4 foot cheater bar. :nervous:


wp

the point is to only have to lock 1 wheel if doing the job by yourself. if you jam the driver side rotor the other side will turn if it's in the air. you will still put torque to the trans, the only way to avoid it is to lock the crank pulley somehow. don't worry, you're more likely to break the crank bolt before the trans gears

[ecogabriel]

For the Accord I used the hydrolock trick. I removed #1 spark plug and with #1 cylinder at lowest point in the compression stroke, I poured some engine oil inside the cylinder. With valves closed - compression stroke - the oil gets trapped between the ascending piston and the combustion chamber.

The only "problem" is getting the oil out when the job is done. I used my vacuum pump that comes with a small reservoir. When I restarted the engine there was still some oil in the chamber and there was a bit of smoke for a few minutes but I was outdoors anyway.

Also, instead of using a regular socket I used the hexagonal-shaped ones; they allow for more force to be applied.

[DBMaster]

^^Yikes! Seems extreme, but whatever works. In my case I twice slipped a mechanic $5 to break it loose with an air impact wrench. Then, tighten it with a regular socket wrench and drive straight home to do the timing belt job. It's such a fine threaded bolt that over the time it takes to accumulate the miles it is going to take some doing to break it loose. The shop manual says to coat the threads in engine oil. I used blue Loctite. It prevents movement AND prevents thread locking. Basically, this part of the job is a PITA no matter how you slice it.

[lostforawhile]

Ok, OK...it's been discussed before, but I am sorely pissed about the amazing difficulty in getting the damn crank pulley bolt out. My '86 Accord does not have the hex cutout inside the pulley, so it can't be held in place. I've tried wedging a screwdriver in the rotor vent to keep the shaft from turning, but dude, it looks like something is gonna break so I backed off on that. I've read where wedging a big screwdriver in the ring gear might hold the whole thing, but I don't know how to access that (like ring gear on flywheel?). BTW, I've tried an electric impact wrench with specs 'up to 230 ft lbs', but I hear the bolt needs at least 375 ft lbs. I'd be happy just to replace the water pump and let the timing belt go, but I now realize the lowest water pump bolt is underneath the lower timing cover. Tech-friendly these pre '90's are not. I have no way to hold this pulley in place since it's the 'holes around the perimeter' version of pulley. Any help here? Can't afford a mechanic.
you don't need to take out the lower cover to do the water pump, take off the valve cover,take the top half of the cover off, and loosen the two upper cover bolts to the lower cover, you just pull it aside slightly and there is the bolt, it's very easy to change that pump

[dieselgus]

I must have gotten pretty lucky with mine then (thankfully the previous owner's mechanic was a stickler for using a torque wrench) when it broke loose a couple seconds after hitting it with the 1/2" drive cordless Milwaukee. I thought I could get away with sneaking the bolt that is behind the bottom cover as well until I dropped the fucking thing into the lower cover into some recess that was out of the reach of my pickup tool. Ugh.

Pull the timing inspection bung on top of the transmission or pull the starter to get access to the ring gear. The other old trick to hold the motor is to feed a bunch of 5/16" nylon rope into any cylinder on the compression stroke. The rope is easier to remove than oil and if you have iffy rings, will hold better.

[doc]

Dude I just went threw this I put a breaker bar with a five foot cheater bar and made. And bent all types of screw drivers and shit...then made special thing to hold pulley. Lifted whole car off jacks would not come off.......hit it with the cordless snap on gun bunch of times and thtas got some torque. Didn't work tryed to get off for ever ......finally took it to a shop guy had a heavy duty impact got it off in 5 min best $15 I've spent in a long time

[carotman]

If you don't have the tools, paying a shop to do it is your best investment.

[gfrg88]

I got it off in like 5 seconds :kekeke: