Harmonic balancer bolt removal

how do you remove the bolt holding the pulley/HB assembly in?

Do you use the HB puller tool for that too and a socket or something?

First time doing this...

Remove the belt and pulley. Then unscrew the center bolt in the balancer. Use a balancer puller to get it off.

But how do I get that dang bolt off holding the pulley on?

The pulley just moves when I crank on it =)

I got the HB tool, just dunno how to get that dang bolt out

you'll have to wedge something in there to keep it from spinning....or use some sort of strap wrench, but I dunno how well that would work....

Try wedging something into it for sure, maybe a 2x4 (not spruce, cedar or a hardwood would be better) with some large lag bolts carefully placed to go into the spokes then braced against the ground?

Stick shift? Put it in 5th gear, and have someone stand on the brakes.

Personally, I've used a strap wrench.

it's an auto. Sonofbish is hard... still at it.

thread two "sacrificial" bolts into the balancer (they will get chewed up) and use a long prybar between them to hold the balancer still.

Pull the starter and jam a flat blade screwdriver between the ring gear on the flywheel and the bellhousing.

Finally got it out!

Used some kind of metal tool I had laying in the garage... looks like it might have belonged to some kinda jack.

Getting that thing on was a task anda half though.

Took three tries.

Second try it wasn't hot enough and only went on just barely. Third time was the charm. Got it nice and hot, then showed it some love with a little bit of 2x4 and some persuasion. Sitting on there nicely now.

Now tomorrow I gotta put the new serpentine belt on, and finish the tune up!

Damn.

Meant to post earlier a tip for installation:

Buy a longer HB bolt and a handful of washers. Grease the washers and place them on the longer bolt. Start the HB on using the longer bolt/washer set up, suck it down, remove bolt, remove a couple of the washers, repeat, repeat again, then use the stock length bolt and torque it down to specs.

Just did this today. You will want the puller that mounts to the front of the balancer and threads into those 3 holes. I tried 2 different jaw style pullers and they could not get behind it enough to grab. I thought about making my own tool, then found one at autozone. They also have a nice installer tool that will not damage your threads and uses a big bearing to make it easier-highly recommended.
Sounds like you got your bolt off- good work. Getting it torqued to the 80ft/lbs (lubricated) was the hardest part for me once I had the right tools.

Seriously, use those 2 tools from AutoZone- the front puller and the installer. I wasted at least 3.5 hours trying to get the grabber pullers to work. Very frustrating. With these tools you can do it in about a half hour and it'll be a smooth install.


ETA: Sorry, didn't read all the posts- looks like you got it with brute force. For anyone else doing this job: try to get ahold of those tools. Makes it easier and there's almost no risk of messing it up.

a bit late, buuuuuut......i've yet to do this on an xj, but it's worked for me several times in the past. a tad redneck, but it works(a crusty old mechanic showed me when i was 19). get a nice strong breaker bar, and a good impact socket. put it on the hb bolt so that the breaker bar is wedged against the framerail(if one has the room-works on many old fords and my 22re 'yota) or the ground. with the coil wire DISCONNECTED, quickly BUMP(not a full "crank") the starter with the ignition key. the crank trying to turn clockwise will knock the hb bolt loose. if you are stupid, please don't do this. not my fault if you didn't look to see if the fan would hit the breaker, etc. just something that has saved my airtool-less butt many times.

I just put a breaker bar/impact socket on the bolt and whack the breaker bar with a hammer. It will pop loose after a couple whacks.

Hellbent said:

a bit late, buuuuuut......i've yet to do this on an xj, but it's worked for me several times in the past. a tad redneck, but it works(a crusty old mechanic showed me when i was 19). get a nice strong breaker bar, and a good impact socket. put it on the hb bolt so that the breaker bar is wedged against the framerail(if one has the room-works on many old fords and my 22re 'yota) or the ground. with the coil wire DISCONNECTED, quickly BUMP(not a full "crank") the starter with the ignition key. the crank trying to turn clockwise will knock the hb bolt loose. if you are stupid, please don't do this. not my fault if you didn't look to see if the fan would hit the breaker, etc. just something that has saved my airtool-less butt many times.

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Even with a decent air impact in my shop I've had to resort to this method a few times.
My worst experience with a harmonic bolt was completely my fault. I had pulled and was rebuilding an early 90's 1.9 liter Saturn motor and did not realize until I had it striped all the way down to just the block and the crank that I had not broken loose the harmonic bolt. I spent all night wedging prybars and using breaker bars and impact guns but the crank kept turning. I ended up having to borrow a 3/4" beast from the transmission shop next door that sounded more like a big block V8 than an air gun to get it off. Took less than a second to break it loose. To this day I believe that the sound of the 3/4" impact scared that bolt loose.

amaymi said:

To this day I believe that the sound of the 3/4" impact scared that bolt loose.

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this is great.