I'm tearing stuff down on my truck for my cam swap, and I am having trouble locking my flywheel. LS1howto says that I can wedge a screwdriver in the flywheel, but I'm not quite sure how. Do I just stick in vertically up in there, or do I slide a slim screwdriver in between two teeth and have some1 rotate the crank? I'ld like to just wedge it in there vertically and get up and rotate the crank to wedge it (b/c I am alone and that's the only way to do it alone IMO).

I have to use a lot of torque to break this balancer bolt loose, so.....it would seem like it would just shear off the screwdriver no mater how I put it in.

Thanks,
Derek

 

hey. there is a tool called a flywheel/flexplate turning tool you can get that latches down on the teeth of the flywhee. i have used one and they work great. you can get it from Jegs. part #555-80530 $24.99

 

If you dont have the time. Take the starter off. Spin the motor you will see holes in the fly wheel. Get a chizel (sp) high grade steal. Now put it in the hole. This will do the trick.

 

Thanks for the tips guys!

I just so happen to have some high grade steel chisels laying around.

These holes will be further up towards the center of the flywheel, correct? How far is the torque converter back from that, and do I risk damaging it using this method?

 

i have a pic of the tool i made on my website in sig

 

How did you end up getting the bolt off? I've got a tentative cam swap planned this weekend.

I'm thinking about heading down to the local dealer for the Kent-Moore tool. I don't think I'm comfortable with jamming stuff in the flywheel - but I haven't taken a look at anything yet to say for sure.

 

I had my lil sister rotate the crank, lol. I found some holes that where just barely accesable from the opening that taking off the bellhousing cover created. I then put a really strong chisel in there and told her to rotate. She yanked on it and it locked the flywheel. I then took a breaker bar, and slid it over the ratchet, then slide a jack handle in the breaker bar. I gave it some tugging and it loosened.

 

Thanks.

So the chisel get kind of cocked in the flywheel hole, and jams up agains the bellhousing hole?

I wonder if I could use my compressor to air up a cylinder, and use that cylinder to 'lock' the motor. Would the air in the cylinder compress too easily to get a good sharp tug on the bolt? Maybe the compressor would be better put to use with my 250ft/lb impact gun?

A trick that I use on my two stroke motors will probably make some people cringe. I remove the spark plug, move the piston down to BDC. I bring it up about halfway to cover most of the intake/exhaust ports. I snick the tranny in gear, and hold the piston in that general area via the countershaft sprocket. I then stuff a standard fabric ROPE into the plug hole. I stuff in as much as I can, while holding the piston around mid-bore. (of course I need to leave some hanging out for removal). When I go to remove the countershaft nut (crank pulley bolt in the ls1's case), I crank on the nut, the piston moves up, and compresses the rope. The rope doesn't allow the piston to pass TDC, so the motor is effectively locked.

 

next time use the strater to brake it loose. extand the braker bar to the ground so it dosent move and use the starter like clik motions and it brakes loose.

 

I just went to the dealer looking for the Kent Moore tool. They told me they don't sell tools, and they're not sure if KM deals with "private" sales.

 

You can do it like baskett does. Put the braker bar on the bolt and the in on the ground. Now start the motor. Dont forget to unplug the coil packs.

 

I have both that tool and a knock off that I bought from Harbor Freight when I gouldnt find my other one . The Harbor Freight tool cost me about $5 or $8 IIRC. It actually works better IMO, as it has a spring like piece of metal to hold the tool on the flywheel once you have grabbed it.

David

 

km does deal with private seller you just got to call them direct i had the number but i can't seem to find it press the dealer and they will give you km's number however be warn their stuff is top of the line so it's very expensive, if you can't get a hold of km then buy snap-on it doesnt get any better than snap-on man.

 

Well if all that doesn't work nothing will LOL! Another option is to use an impact before you take the belt or the sparkplugs out it has worked every time except once and I just had some one hold a screwdriver in the flywheel through the little opening on the bellhousing etc... Also note that I have a good snapon impact I don't think the little cheapies will do it, but who knows they might? Good luck!

 

Cool... Thanks zam... There's a Snap-On place not far from here. I'll hit them up.

 

Found this damper holding tool through SN. $88!

 

$88 for snap-on is not that bad considering they are th only tools with the claim to fame that they are in outer space.

 

REmove the small 2 in round plug on bottom of bellhouseing insert a BIg screw driver or pry bar into the teeth of fly wheel ( you will need a freind to help) may need to insert one behind the flap behind the starter also >>>( NO need to remove the starter) OR you may order the special tool from GM which will bolt to block which will hold the fly wheel
get a big peice of pipe to use as cheater on on ratchet or breaker bar ( some say bind bar and bump starter to loose crank bolt ( I WOULD NEVER DO THIS )
Will need a 3 leg puller that will pull from the inside ( never from outside ) of stock pulley (may rent from local past supplier )
when ready to re install I get two new crank bolts from dealer and weld a 5/8 x 4 in bolt to head of one ,
( will need to grind down the washer on stock bolt so that it will fit threw the pulley) screw the welded crank bolt in to crank slide a socket( one that will just fit inside the pulley- to use as a guide to start pulley stright ) over the welded 5/8 bolt ,use this to pull the puller back on this way you are not puting much strain on the threads inside the crank Lubricate and mount the ASP pulley onto the snout. Once it is pressed close to flush ( about 1/8 being flush) then install old bolt and tighten it to 240 ft. lbs. or until it is completely seated on the crank snout. Afterwards, REMOVE THE STOCK BOLT and replace it with the NEW CRANK BOLT. You will tighten the NEW bolt to 37 ft. lbs. and then turn it an >>additonal 120 degrees.<<<

hope this helps Johnny
ps:: I install a new seal any time I remove a pulley($10.00 and 10 minutes now is better than haveing a leak and haveing to remve pulley again

may make a tool to hold flywheel
hope the drawing of tool is understandable
use a 1/8 x 2 flat bar about 12 in long insert into flywheel threw the round hole in botton of bellhouseing ,the notch in side will hold tool in place
PS: THE DRAWING DOES NOT SHOW UP CORRECT ,it should be about 2 in wide all the way down

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Get on-line for Kent-Moore stuff. They are a division of SPX Service Solutions, located in Minnesota. Hope this helps. WJ

 

Or you can put the bar against the frame if you've raised the car. This is the way I've done it many, many times. I don't know why people want to do it the hard way.