Sinking Creek 4WD Association

So this isn't on my 4x4, but an engine is an engine... In order to replace the water pump on my cavalier I have to remove the exhaust manifold, right-hand motor mount, crankshaft pulley, and timing chain tensioner. I've gotten the first 2, so now I have to figure out how to remove the bolt holding the pulley on the end of the crankshaft. My cheap impact wrench had no effect as the service manual mentions that this bolt get torqued to 129 ft/lbs + another 90-degree turn. I tried holding the pulley with a ratchet strap, but it was too stretchy and felt like it was going to snap something. The service manual mentions a special tool that is used to hold the pulley, but of course I don't have that. Someone told me that there is something called a piston stop that you can screw in place of a spark plug that will hold a piston, effectively immobilizing the crankshaft. Is this safe, or could I end up screwing something up that way? How would you go about removing that bolt?

Make sure you're turning it the right way. There are a few cars that are reverse threaded (BMW comes to mind for some reason).

You can sometimes pull the flywheel/flexplate inspection cover and wedge something into the starter ring gear.

Put the vehicle in 5th gear if it's a manual, sometimes that's enough.

My personal favorite.

Put a breaker bar on it, and then crank it over with the starter motor (disable the motor so it won't run). Ideally the breaker bar will be wedged against something like a frame rail or the ground. A piece of wood might be a good idea to protect the car from the breaker bar. The works provided everything turns the right way to break the bolt loose. Basically you're using the starter motor to break the bolt loose.

definitely check the threading ... i believe most vehicles are left hand threaded on the crank to keep the nut from backing off ...

and i second the breaker bar on the frame rail ..... pull the coil wire to the disty and disable the fuel pump .... wedge the breaker bar against something solid and bump the starter to break it loose ... i have never tried it with a car though .... always been on a truck of some sort with a nice big starter ....

just make sure you dont let the cooling smoke out of the starter, they dont work if you let the smoke out.

You mean they're not all hand tight like the one on my 22re was?

When I did the headgasket at the end of the summer, i went to take the crank bolt out and all I did was yank on it one time with an 18" breaker bar and it came off really easily. Kinda scary...

jonesy wrote:pull the coil wire to the disty and disable the fuel pump ....

What in the cornbread hell is a "disty?" I guess there is a first time for everything

You're killing me Trigger

air on cylinder will keep it from turning over

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to try the starter method. I've verified that the bolt is standard thread direction (lefty-loosey) and the starter turns the pulley the right way (clockwise). But, my 27mm socket is 12-sided and has too much play for my liking. I'm going to pick up a 6-sided socket to be sure I don't round off the corners of the bolt.