stuck ballancer pulley

[chuckbalon]

does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get the bolt loose from the center of the ballancer pulley? How do you keep the engine from turning : is there a backyard mechanics fix for this ?

[Scimmia]

Big ass impact is the best way. If that's not an option, you need to hold the flexplate in place to stop the engine from turning and use a big breaker bar. Last resort would be the starter trick, where you lay the breaker bar on the frame and hit the starter.

[Bio248]

vice grips on the flex plate and a big breaker bar unless you have a nice impact. an impact makes a world of difference.

[chuckbalon]

Thanks for the suggestions guyx. I did the starter trick. After fighting with that bolt for most of the afternoon, I was surprised as to how easy it was to let the starter do the dirty work. I actually had a ratchet wrench on the bolt and had it chained down so it wouldn't move. Just a bump of the starter and the bolt was loose.
Thanks again for your help.

[machinegunsquid]

Yeah, it took me about 4 hours to pull my crank pulley. Someone had put the bolt back in, completely covered in red loc-tite, I ended up with a pair of vise grips on the flexplate, a 3 foot long 1/2" breaker bar, and piece of pipe over the end of it for leverage. Damn near broke myself trying to get it off....

Good thing the starter trick worked man.