As a part of owning a car, you may have to face numerous situations where you have to pull the crankshaft pulley out. Despite the use of powerful tools and large lever bars, the pulley shaft bolt is legendary for holding it fast. In addition, the pulley spin and spins when you attempt to stick to the head of a bolt.
When this bolt is released, the remainder of the operation is unfettered to remove, rebuild and assemble, but only removing the bolt can be an uphill task. Learn how to remove crankshaft pulley bolt without damaging anything in this article.
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Why Crankshaft Pulley Bolt Gets Stuck?
The crankshaft pulley is usually tightened to extreme torque values so that it can easily hold up against the spinning engine. Know why they stuck before going for how to remove crankshaft pulley bolt. There are other reasons too why a bolt gets stuck too. Here are the main ones-
1. A seized bolt
The dreaded seized bolt is one of the greatest headaches when a car is disassembled for restoration and even remediation. It occurs when the bolt, nut, or screw gets corrosion and it doesn’t budge. This results, many times, the bolt is broken off while trying to open it. They can be really tough to remove.
2. Over Torqued Bolt
Everyone can mess up with large bolts or whoever has worked on a car project or general maintenance has inadvertently overtightened them. An over-tightening or working of the impact attachment is one of the most destructive techniques. This can lead to the removal of screws, the cracking of screw heads, and shred the threading, leading to damage.
3. Bolt Crossion
Uniform corrosion, causing the rust to eat up the metal, makes it harder to repair the attachment because of the inappropriate coating of the fastener. Corrosion in the fitting – produced or the fasteners form microscopic holes. These holes basically weld shut the bolt with the thread, making it a single unit and almost impossible to remove.
How To Remove Crankshaft Pulley Bolt?
You may use the simple step-by-step guide to remove a crankshaft pulley bolt. You can then disassemble the crankshaft pulley effectively and go ahead with the necessary replacements and repairs.
1. Locate The Crankshaft Pulley
This is a brainer, and you must determine the location of the pulley first, especially as there are different mechanical systems in different vehicles and so, the pulley of the crankshaft may not be where you would like it to be. For many vehicles, the most usual cause is that the crankshaft pulley is on the left side of the driver.
However, it can occur sometimes in the engine’s underside. You can look for it in place if you are more familiar with what a timing belt is because the pulley is near it always.
2. Remove The Driver Side Wheel
The following step is essential for how to remove crankshaft pulley bolt process. This process changes slightly depending on the type of transmission. In general, removing the right front wheel is the easiest approach to remove the crankshaft pulley.
Then slacken the whole lug of the wheel one by one, using a lug clamp. Otherwise, you must utilize a manual or electronic impact clamp when your car employs an automatic transmission.
3. Attack The Pulley Bolt
You may get 1/2″ and even 3/4″ monsters from a rental establishment to release this hollow boulder if you have just a 3/8″ impact. Make sure you get a plug-in model, as you’re likely to spend over 10 minutes on the bolt. Before starting the impact, spray the bolt with a lubricant.
Let the impact hammer off the bolt for a few minutes, before using lubrication again. Repeat this until it breaks loose.
Alternatively, Use A Breaker Bar
You can get a breaking bar that is three feet or longer and try using a lever to release the bolt. It’s not right to build your own breaker bar or cheater bar, as it’s sometimes called, by linking wrenches for this project together. Instead, a solid bar that does not break through force is needed.
Longer bars increase many efforts. Don’t merely press the end of the bar, instead use small repeated pushers to loosen the bolt. Use a lot of lube while you are working on the bolt. Patience, it takes a lot of time and effort to use a breaker bar to remove the bolt.
4. Dislocate The Pulley
The next step is to dismantle the pulley-holding bolts. You must use a puller kit for this part. Screw the puller first and snap it at the opposite ends of the puller one by one. In this way, the tool creates pressure by pulling the pulley and the crankshaft to get you out of the car.
You have to squirt bolts on the opposite ends of the squirrel assembly at this stage. Then use a socket and clamp to completely remove the pulley.
5. Address The Rust
Just pour the white vinegar into the rusty metal object for a few hours, then wipe the rust. Simply put white vinegar on the surface of the object and give it some time to settle if the subject is too large.
How Much It Cost To Get Crankshaft Pulley Free?
The cost involved should not be much as we are not dealing with something substantial here. The cost of supplies needed here should not cross the 40$ mark even if you have to rent a large impact wrench. If in the unfortunate case, where you are unable to free open the crankshaft, the labor charges will not cross 200$.
Conclusion
The question how to remove crankshaft pulley bolt should not scare you. The procedure of removing crankshaft pulleys is very uncomplicated, as long as you have the necessary tools and instructions for the operation to look for.
If you’re sure you can do it right, then it’s not necessary to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars paying for something you can do for your local mechanic. If you still have any doubts, then comment down below.