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Tips to remove harmonic balancer

bp71k5

bp71k5

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No big fancy story to this one. Any tips to keep the engine from rotating while I'm using a breaker bar to remove the big balancer bolt? It's not left hand threads is it?

I sprayed some PB blaster on the bolt and will wait till tomorrow to try again.
 
Right hand thread.

Take a flywheel tool or a pry bar and have someone hold the flywheel while you break the bolt loose.
 
Most of the balancer bolts I removed I got off by using a hammer blow on the breaker bar to shock it loose before the engine had a chance to turn..if its an automatic you can hold the flywheel still somehow,that requires removal of the dust cover though,and I haven't had to do that yet..sometimes just jamming a v-belt to the water pump with a block of wood will be enough resistance to get the bolt free --if an air impact gun can fit,it'll zip it right out toot sweet..
I've heard of old time mechanics stuffing some nylon rope in a spark plug hole to "lock" the engine so the bolt can be removed (I have used that trick to hold valves closed while replacing valve stem seals,it beats having one drop in using the compressed air method!)..you put the rope in with the piston near bottom dead center,then turn the engine over till it crushes it against the head..


I usually put a large screwdriver or pry bar thru the 3 bolts holding the puller to the balancer and let it bear against the frame to keep the engine from turning over while I tighten the puller up,to get the balancer off.....air impact gun works best for this,no worries about it turning,IF you can fit one in there..
 
I sat with the big IR impact on it and it wouldn't budge. I'll try adding the puller onto it and then jam something in there to keep it from turning, not a bad idea. Thanks.
 
Wont the puller block access to the bolt?
 
Hmm, yea that might be a problem. :) maybe I can snake a box end over it? Or maybe just fab up a bracket that uses a couple of the small pulley holes to have something to pry against.
 
You air gun isn't working properly if it won't remove that bolt with ease. Either that or you don't have enough air pressure to the gun.
 
4X4HIGH said:
You air gun isn't working properly if it won't remove that bolt with ease. Either that or you don't have enough air pressure to the gun.
Click to expand...

^Yep. On an SBC, the balancer bolt shouldn't be that tight because there's a keyway. Now on LS motors, there's no keyway, so the balancer bolt is very tight, around 240 lb-ft. A decent impact should have no problem with it.
 
Someone may have put locktite on the balancer bolt...that can be a bummer..
I had one 305 engine I went to put a new timing chain in,someone stripped the fine thread 7/16 threads in the crank,and decided to tap it to 1/2"x13 thread and use green locktite to make sure it never backed off...

I had to heat the bolt up cherry red at least twice and let the heat soak into the crank,before my anemic flea market air impact would unscrew that bolt..
I only melted the timing cover seal,no big deal because it was being replaced anyhow,but if I had to heat that bolt up once more I bet the balancer would have been junk because the rubber bond got really warm...

I remember a guy buying a balancer puller coming back to the parts store,and he was holding the outer ring of it in one hand,the hub part with the keyway in the other hand..he asks "I can just hammer these 2 peices back together--right?...:eek1:..
Um..."NO!"..:doah:...turned out the 3 bolt puller wasn't working for him,so he used a 3 jaw gear puller on the outer "ring" and succeded in pulling it off the rubber!..back then a harmanic balancer was a dealer or salvage yard only item,or a swap meet!...luckily I knew a machinist who had a pile of small block parts he accumulated and he had one he sold him for 20 bucks..
 
4X4HIGH said:
You air gun isn't working properly if it won't remove that bolt with ease. Either that or you don't have enough air pressure to the gun.
Click to expand...


Hmm, I wonder who put it on so tight...;) I did have to use a wobble joint on the socket so maybe that affects the torque?
 
Yep, anything between the gun and fastener consumes energy.
 
Ok, that's embarrassing. I took the wobble joint off and managed to snake the impact straight onto the bolt and it spun right off. No breaker bars or broken knuckles required. Thanks for the advice!
 
bp71k5 said:
Hmm, I wonder who put it on so tight...;) I did have to use a wobble joint on the socket so maybe that affects the torque?
Click to expand...


bp71k5 said:
Ok, that's embarrassing. I took the wobble joint off and managed to snake the impact straight onto the bolt and it spun right off. No breaker bars or broken knuckles required. Thanks for the advice!
Click to expand...

Oh man, I installed it using a 1/4" drive air gun and 2 wobble joints. :haha:
 
To be fair, I think I removed it to put a fancy billet pulley on there so I was the one who probably torqued it on so tight.

And since your here, is the balancer the same from 71-94? The serpentine pulley doesn't quite want to sit flush against the balancer, but I might be able to press it on.
 
bp71k5 said:
To be fair, I think I removed it to put a fancy billet pulley on there so I was the one who probably torqued it on so tight.

And since your here, is the balancer the same from 71-94? The serpentine pulley doesn't quite want to sit flush against the balancer, but I might be able to press it on.
Click to expand...

There are differences as far as timing mark location and diameter but ANY pulley for a SBC will bolt up. Could be a burr from installing the balancer if you hammered it on so check for that.
 
The aluminum pulley just slides right on, but the serpentine one has hole that just feels a bit undersized. I'll clean it up and double check for burrs.
 
bp71k5 said:
The aluminum pulley just slides right on, but the serpentine one has hole that just feels a bit undersized. I'll clean it up and double check for burrs.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that all factory SBC pulleys have a protrusion that goes into the center hole of the harmonic balancer and it's likely that an aluminum aftermarket pulley is just flat on the back side.

Here is a pic of the back side of a pulley showing the protrusion i'm talking about. http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=...rGGA8ktbvIsl8L-jbr8QC3ag&ust=1396921672763228

crank pulley.jpg
 
Yep, the lip on mine looks like that and the old pulley is just flat. Is that lip supposed to be a press fit?
 
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