broken timing belt blues

The "alternate" method is to use an impact gun. The bolt will come right off and he won't risk hurting himself or his car in the process. This shadetree mechanic silliness might be ok for someone with some experience, but this guy said he'd never done this before. Welcome to the 21st century...an impact gun is readily available and cheap (and will come in handy for other tasks down the line). Why make the guy's life more difficult and potentially dangerous/expensive?

Cheers,

Then you can take your wise old owl self over and help the poor guy remove his pulley and risk injury and damage yourself. It's better just to teach someone new the correct way to do the repair. Your personal attacks are amusing, but meaningless. I guess that says a lot about the substance behind your point.

Psss...my first car was a 67 Mustang and I've owned 3 more since.

Have a nice day.

Cheers,

Rare that I get to be on both sides of the issue.

An Impact gun IS the right choice and almost imperative if you are going to be working on your own cars.

I think most have found by experience that an impact will remove rusted exhaust bolts better than a breaker bar, which would probably break it off.

Not to mention suspension work such as on the MN12 (89 up TBirds) Where everything is interference fit.

I have a cheap but beefy Impact gun and it's been a sanity-saver. Sure my comprssor is a totable airless and I often have to wait through several cycles of refill... but it beats the alternative.

Ritz wrote in news:9W0Me.11648$ snipped-for-privacy@fe09.lga:

True, but what I mean is that it doesn't necessarily mean what it's supposed to. I've had people with computer certifications and/or a college degree in computers that know zero of what you would think they should considering the certifications they have. I'm a prime example of that :op

If that's what you perceived from his suggestion, you definately do not need to be working on a car. There should be no breaker bar spinning anywhere. The only way that will happen is if you are too stupid to either check which way the pully turns forst or to know which direction to brace the wrench.

And on an Escort I believe you *still* have to remove the engine to use said impact wrench.

I agree, but to insist that Jims method is overly dangerous or idiotic is within its self idiotic.

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 16:32:46 -0500, WindsorFox[SS] rearranged some electrons to form:

Well, I stand corrected, I never saw Warman's whole response. I guess I should not have posted unless I saw the whole thing.

(Un)fortunately, I am blocking him, since he appears to have the same ISP as He Who Has No Name... since He Who Has No Name kept changing his posting ID, I blocked his ISP instead... unfortunate consequences but that's the way it goes.

And, yes, I've been working on cars for 25 years, TRYING to use the right tool for the job. Improvising when necessary, but not to the point of breaking something (or someone)!

No, you don't. You pull the wheel and remove the little plastic fender liner and it's right in front of you. And if you don't get a straight-on shot, you can use a swivel socket (they sell cheap impact swivels at Sears and most auto supply stores).

And lastly, if you'll do a search on "ritz" and "mordor" on this newsgroup, you'll see that I've been posting on this group for nearly 10 years. I just don't blanket it with posts like some folks. So instead of insulting people and making snide comments, perhaps it's just time to own up to the fact that there is a right way and a wrong way to do this job, especially for somoeone who hasn't done a bunch of these previously.

Have a nice day,

No, it isn't. He was recommending that someone (who admitted to never having done this type of repair before) try an overtly dangerous method to break a bolt loose. When I called him on that, he said that was how to "save owners money" or some other nonesense (the owner and the mechanic are one in the same in this case) and then started with the personal attacks because the facts weren't getting him anywhere.

It's so much easier to just say "you know, I think that other guy is right...you could hurt yourself that way."

Have a nice day.

A swivel, yeah, that will work well with an impact and a very stuck bolt.

Yes, it is.

An IMPACT SWIVEL. You're dead set on making an ass out of yourself, aren't you? Impact swivels have a much more limited range of motion than a normal swivel/universal joint and can stand the pounding of an impact gun.

And a crank bolt isn't "very stuck". It's in there under a lot of torque bolted into something that spins itself (the crankshaft). Perfect for an impact gun.

Have a nice day.

Watching a bit too much Monty Python, I guess....

From one curmudgeon to another, you're welcome ;>)

Let's talk about ME!! ;)

As I said, I OUGHT to recall having to remove the Crank pulley to change a timing belt, but I dont..

Am I the ONLY one who fidgeted and bashed that timing cover?

"tnhulk" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@localhost.talkaboutautos.com:

Spike

Gad shat fools these morons be....

Something I have learned over the years.... a cerificate is a piece of paper.... nothing more, nothing less.

I've been to school enough times to make your head spin (well, my head, anyway). I've had teachers with an amazing grasp of theory - I mean these guys are mondo smart.... but they couldn't fix their way out of a wet paper sack. These are great guys to know when you're beating your head against a brick wall, but don't hand them a wrench...

My own preference is to "finesse" a repair but there are times where we need to use a cerain amount of brutality in the name of economy or in affecting a timely repair. If this weren't true, the biggest ball peen hammer on the tool truck would be something like 8 ounce.

I'm pretty sure that Ritz has never installed a transmission in a 7.3 DI and I'm positive he wouldn't like to see us removing the rear duals on an F550.... both good examples of the need for the occasional brush with brutality.

Many years ago, ASE tried a little foray into Canada..... I was self-employed at the time and thought the wallpaper would look pretty. At almost $100 bux a pop, I wrote enough specilaties to be a "master"...... Five years later, they wanted money again.... I passed on the notion.