88 Camry: Can't get damper pulley bolt loose....

Just to make sure, its not a lefthand thread?

You may need to put a 4 ft length of pipe on it and really give it a go. Check with the group to see if its RHthread.

Jason

If the bolt is starting to get damaged it's time to stop.

If the bolt has not been removed, there hasn't been much disassembly.

Just order a new bolt from the dealer, put the car back together, drive it to a local shop, and let them remove the bolt, temporarily install your new bolt, and tighten it enough for you to drive home and continue.

Shouldn't take more than a few minutes and a couple of dollars.

Going to be a major headache for you if you try drilling that hardened steel bolt. If the bit slips or you damage the end of the crankshaft, your project will become much more interesting.

=========================================================== Next time, try Kroil. Seafoam is for a completely different purpose.

Hitting a breaker bar with a mallet never works. If you need additional leverage, add a "cheater bar" extension.

Impact wrench or starter motor should have done the job for you. Either the impact wrench capacity rating is too low, or the starter - battery is not in optimum condition.

At this point, simply have a professional mechanic who does this on a daily basis remove the bolt. This is routine for them and you will avoid the not insubstantial risk of damaging the bolt further. You're going to be amazed how quickly and easily it comes out with the proper equipment. Easy, inexpensive and safe. Just turn the car over to them for that one item and don't sweat it. The objective is to be able to continue your work.

I did this once with a mangled sway bar end link bolt which I "inherited" with the car. Could barely get a wrench on it, much less loosen it. Local garage had it off in seconds, and my neighbor had a similar experience with an axle nut, after destroying a 1/2" breaker bar with still no effect on that axle nut, they had removed in less than a minute it like it was nothing.

For future reference, when you say you "put the starter back in" - you don't need to take the starter out. If you want to use the flywheel teeth to hold the engine from turning, you access them by removing the sitffener plate at the botom of the engine near the transaxle. You should see a small, light, sheet metal section that is held in by a few bolts to reveal the flywheel. I've never used that method, though.

That bolt is only supposed to be torqued to 80 ft. lbs., like a lug nut on the wheels.

It should not take you much more than the force needed to remove a wheel lug nut. If so, STOP and let a shop do this for a few dollars as recommended earlier.

The trick is to be able to hold the crank pulley. I use own tool made of 2x4 lumber and grade 5 bolts that goes through the pulley spokes (not the drilled bolt holes). If it takes any more than what you need on a wheel lug, then it's likely to have seized up after all these years.

ger> Its the 4-cyl 3S-FE engine.

Well, its not a reverse-threaded bolt, is it? The Haynes manual ddoesn't say that it is.

I had a similar problem with a '86 Camry. I need the help of my son. We used the pry bar method between a steel tight fitted pin into the pulley and the socket head. I believe the other end of the pry bar was held by the driveway. My son kept his foot against the socket and pry bar to keep them from falling off.

THE BOLT IS A STANDARD RIHGT HAND THREAD.

Good Luck.

=======================================================

ger> Well, its not a reverse-threaded bolt, is it? The Haynes manual

You can safely assume its RH thread in that case.

Locking the flywheel properly is the key. Some people use a "U" shaped piece of tough steel to engage and hold 2 flywheel teeth. As Dan said, descretion is the better part of valour in some cases ie get a shop to undo it.

On all the engines which had pulley bolts, I used to use a large straight bladed screwdriver to engage the flywheel teeth or in some cases a hole in the torque-convertor driveplate to hold the crank. Mechanical shops probably have better ideas tho.

Jason

I had the same problem with my 94 V6. 1/2 inch impact wouldn't budge it. Rented a 3/4, using the same 100psi and it poped it right out. They use some type of locktite during assembly which works really well.

Different 1/2 inch guns have different abilities-- how much did it cost the user? every once in a while I get one that no 1/2 inch gun in out shop will budge; I bring out BIG BERTHA, a 3/4 inch gun. She has only struggled once but she has always won.

Heat it with a propane torch just before you try again.

I had the same trouble with my 91 camry and had to get a 3/4" impact from a friend and a 6 point socket and then it came loose. Good Luck I hope this helped!

Its automatic? If so you may still be able to fit a tight socket, drive with cheater bar whose end is touching the ground toward the front of the car. That way,you can blip the starter which rotates the crankshaft in a clockwise direction or "undoing" direction.

If it was manual, you could do the same thing only pushing the car while its in gear.

Jason

I dont mean heat it red hot, or soften the meatal even a propane torch will do and break, melt the locktite. There is a Nut Cracker, a tool that goes over a nut and tightens around it, but I have no idea if it would work, or get a pro to do it.

Oh...OK, well if I don't have to heat it until it is red-hot to melt any loc-tite....I will give that a try. But will wait a while for my can of "Kroi"l to arrive.... will soak it in what Daniel recommends first, I guess. Just in case its just corrosion. Thanks, Jim

Just Today I saw the ultimate tool for this application. I am not sure how nice it would be to you and your car, but it is commonly used on late model Ford Crank Pulley Bolts. It's a long shaft with a fork at the end, with a 1/2" dowel between the halves. Then there is a set of Box End slug wrenches with notches in them that fit many sizes of nut and you put the long shaft into your Air Hammer ( rivet gun style tool) and hit it a few times to loosen the big ones. I was very impressed with the tool and may have to buy one for disassmebly jobs. I don;t recomend using anything IMPACT to put any engine component on. Especially if it is fastening to an internal compenent or a bearing loading component ( axels and such).

I have, in the past pulled the oil pan on Toyota products and put a

2x4 between the crank and the block to keep the crank from turning. A 3/4" breaker bar usually would remove anything at that point also.

Remember, anytime you intoduce a load on an engine or bearing compnent, you can damage parts badly by "brinelling". This is basically like taking a tiny hammer that is very heavy and putting tiny pits and flat spots on bearings. This is a terrible thing to do on crankshaft bearings, wheel bearings, and any otherbearing/bushing. It will accellerate wear so much that you'll swear that you bought a bad part or blame it on other issues. Not realizing that you are at fault. Remove "YOURPANTIES" to reply

MUADIB®

If A Quiz is Quizzical, What is a test?

The Peacemaking Meeting scheduled for today has been cancelled due to a conflict.

I agree that brinneling is a danger when force is applied sideways to the bearing or in the case of races, applying force to the inner track, but a rotational force in respect to undoing the crank -pulley bolt, doesnt bring into play the same level of danger.

Some airguns do a lot of damage if the socket is not a very snug fit onto the bolt-head in question. All that rattling damages the hex-corners.

Jason

If you suspect Loctite has been used on the bolt, then you need to heat it with a torch to release it, then try it. The starter trick should definitely work since that is applying quite a bit of torque. I think I agree with the others and get a shop to do it using one of their large impacts since it is being damaged.

dave mc

If you suspect Loctite has been used on the bolt, then you need to heat it with a torch to release it, then try it. The starter trick should definitely work since that is applying quite a bit of torque. I think I agree with the others and get a shop to do it using one of their large impacts since it is being damaged.

dave mc