Need help with crank nut... BIG TROUBLE??? (1 Viewer)

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Oct 25, 2005
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Location
Hagerstown MD
1987 4runner with AUTO. I've tried and tried, my electric impact will not break it, Torque bar and cheater pipe with a chain wrench around the pulley and NO BEANS! What's the deal here??? I can't break this thing loose, I'm afraid I'm going to shear the head off the bolt. Is it reverse threaded? I used the old torque bar and starter motor... no dice.

I don't have air at this garage (buddies house as he has heat), I'd put it back together but broke the damn timing gear with an extension trying to hold the engine tight while I torqued the crank.

PLEASE HELP NEED ADVICE

I don't what to pull the arb bumper if I can help it.

I've used a little heat from my map gas torch should I heat the living hell out of it for a while and try again?
 
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I just went through this over the weekend. I broke 1 ratchet 3 and sockets. Take the time out and put some heat on it. When I did it took little effort to get it off. Hell a can of mapp gas and a torch would do just fine;)
 
yes, follow the step

1 lub (mouse juice)
2 heat (mapp gas)
3 strength (cheater pipe)

good luck
 
More leverage is needed for sure. Find yourself a 2" wide cargo ratchet strap. Wrap it so it wraps over itself and the strap coming off the top is tied to the left frame rail. Hook the other en to the another location on the frame or lower a-arm and ratchet it tight. The combination of the strap being tight around the crank pulley and tensioned to the frame should offer adequate holding power to remove the crank bolt with an long cheater bar on it. This has worked on my runner, a Taco and more importantly my 80 with a torque spec of 305 ft/lbs. Just be sure the straps are oriented correctly relative to the direction of rotation your loosening or tightening the bolt. Give it a whirl.
 
You can apply some heat to it, but you do need to be careful not to overheat the crank so it loses it's heat treatment, and also be aware that the harmonic balancer has a dense rubber dampener in it that will melt.
 
My rig not rusty...the starter trick failed over and over again. A little mapp gas if careful will not hurt....besides that is the only thing that would remove it.
Don't heat the bolt, you want to heat what the bolt goes into.... I've never had the starter trick fail, is this rig rusty?
 
To add to the heat thing....

Once you heat the area around the bolt, take an icecube to the head of the bolt. It'll help the bolt contract a bit.

Kroil. WAY better than PBlaster or WD-40. Check the phone book for very big equipment places. I buy mine from a mine supply house in town. I could also buy a shackle big enough to tow an aircraft carrier there. ;)

Dan
 
Kroil. WAY better than PBlaster or WD-40.

Agreed. Although there's no place local for me to buy it, I order if by the case from the company:

KanoLabs.com

I also like the Penephite stuff for lubing leaf springs.
 
The newish CRC freezeoff product is nice for stuff like this, you can get it real hot and then shock it with cold while at the same time hitting it with oil. Its not super ice cold but its kinda like holding a computer duster bottle upside down.
 
This has all been good advice. I agree on the kroil, very good product, I bought my last can from Eastwood and was very happy. The kroil had a nice smell too if I recall.

I bought a IR torque wrench at the tune of 290 bucks, 700+ ftlbs of reverse torque and it wouldn't cut the mustard w/ 120 psi of air! I used a 3/4 breaker bar, 1/2 adapter and a short 19mm impact socket... and sheared the adapter off the 1/2" side. I used another hardened adapter and longer cheater pipe, added a little heat (pb massaed over night) and jerked the living hell out of it on and off on and off. finally I busted it loose.

I got myself in a real pickle when I started out here. I was using a garage away from all my equipment as its too full of motorcycle stuff, trying to beat the cold wound up costing alot of time and money. I did a DUMB THING using an extension to hold the timing gear tight, I shattered the cam pulley and all the parts fell below. opps! I was committed at that point and had to get her apart to fix the damage.

I bought my parts from engle? somone I found here on mud. I was very happy with the price and quality of parts and gaskets. I recommend them. I can't stress enough to keep track of the oil pump bolts and the order in which they are fitted. This was a problem with the install of the timing chain to begin with. a bolt on the cover was too long and held back the tensioner arm. I knew I had some slapp in the chain and whurring but really thought it was chain wear. It was improper install from a previous mechanic. I've put over 40,000 miles on that poorly installed unit not counting mileage from po. all chain rails were intact with minimal wear as was the tensioner arm. Of course the arm never reached proper tension under presure due to the wrong oil pump bolt. I'm surprised the thing didn't wear more of the rails out!
 
You got real lucky I have broke several bolt head's off and then the motor's are junk, unless you have spare crank's
 
if the head breaks off and your really desperate.......and cheap.......and desperate......you can mig the crank pulley on once your done.......did i mention to do this only if your cheap....and desperate
 
It sounds like you got the bolt off, but when I did mine, I built a tool that keeps the crank from turning. I used a long piece of steel and bolted it to the crank using the PS pulley bolts. I had drilled a 1.5" (IIRC) hole in one end which gave me room to put my socket on the bolt. I propped one end of the steel against something, and I pulled the breaker bar the other the opposite direction. It worked fairly well, but I did break a couple sockets and a ratchet. I did have to basically put all my 200+ pounds on the end of the breaker bar to break that bolt loose though. Not fun.

I know several other folks that have done something similar with good results. I believe Toyota also sells a SST for the same purpose.
 

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