Home Made Crank Pulley Holding Tool
05-12-2012, 01:26 PM
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Home Made Crank Pulley Holding Tool I recently finished my head and cam project and within a couple of hundred miles my crank had spun on the pulley and worked the bolt loose, eventually letting the pulley walk until I had oil leaking out the front timing cover seal. The biggest problem I had when I installed the crank bolt all was holding the pulley in place while trying to get the old bolt torqued to 240-lbs as well as to get the new bolt stretched 140 degree's past 37 ft-lbs.
I have a neighbor that's retired and was/is into drag racing and hot roding in general. He had been coming down to my house and helping me with the head and cam project, so he was aware of the issue with holding the pulley while tightening the bolt. Once I got it all torn down, cleaned up and ready to put back together he came down to help me put the new pulley and bolt back on and showed up with a nifty little tool he had made to hold the pulley while tightening the bolt. The best part of the tool is that it holds onto the inner spokes of the pulley rather than the outside perimeter of it, which means that the rubber part of the dampner takes no load during the bolt tightening and loosening process. This tool allowed me to achieve 240 lbs on my torque wrench and allowed me to get all 140 degrees of rotation out of the new bolt. Nice!
The bar is just standard 1" boxed steel x 36" in length that he got from Menards. The bolts are 5/8" x 3" long and are located 3 5/8" apart from each other on center. He tack welded the bolts to the bar, but I suppose you could just use thin nuts without interfering with the pulley. Here are pictures of the tool.
Oh, and I pinned the crank and all but dipped the crank bolt in lock-tite before putting it back in! :-)
I have a neighbor that's retired and was/is into drag racing and hot roding in general. He had been coming down to my house and helping me with the head and cam project, so he was aware of the issue with holding the pulley while tightening the bolt. Once I got it all torn down, cleaned up and ready to put back together he came down to help me put the new pulley and bolt back on and showed up with a nifty little tool he had made to hold the pulley while tightening the bolt. The best part of the tool is that it holds onto the inner spokes of the pulley rather than the outside perimeter of it, which means that the rubber part of the dampner takes no load during the bolt tightening and loosening process. This tool allowed me to achieve 240 lbs on my torque wrench and allowed me to get all 140 degrees of rotation out of the new bolt. Nice!
The bar is just standard 1" boxed steel x 36" in length that he got from Menards. The bolts are 5/8" x 3" long and are located 3 5/8" apart from each other on center. He tack welded the bolts to the bar, but I suppose you could just use thin nuts without interfering with the pulley. Here are pictures of the tool.
Oh, and I pinned the crank and all but dipped the crank bolt in lock-tite before putting it back in! :-)
05-12-2012, 01:39 PM
#2
Love it! That looks like the tools my Dad loves to make. Whenever he encounters something that needs a specialized tool he goes out and make them. He alwyas find these type of tools too pricey! LOL!
05-12-2012, 02:18 PM
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Mine is a 6 speed too. I couldn't get to 240 ft. lbs without the whole car trying to move forward off of the jack stands. This was the only way to firmly hold the pulley/crank without the car wanting to move forward (back tires on ground, front in the air)
08-26-2012, 08:15 PM
#7
Thanks for posting this! Couldn't keep a good enough hold on flex plate with ring gear wrench, found this, trip to menards, $12 later, all done... they have 1" tube with 3/8 holes every 1" so I got that, opened holes to 1/2", used 1/2" x 3 bolts at 4 spacing on tool, perfect. Note, I also had vette pulley. If you have camaro or truck you'll probably need 3.5" or 4" long bolts to work with deeper pulley.
