Crankshaft Sprocket Removal

When I installed the crank sprocket on my newly-rebuilt Golf motor I put a chunk of 2x4 wood between the crank and the side of the block to stop the crank from rotating. Obviously, this would require removing the oil pan.

Todd Seattle,WA '86 GTI, Red of course. (exciting racey car) 259,000 miles '87 Golf, Polar Silver. (boring work car) 505,000 miles

Just finished this job saturday on my car. I spent about 2 hours trying to free that bolt with just putting car in 5th w/brake. It seemed like there was too much play for the amount of room. Once I had the oil pan off, I was finished and was putting the pan back on within 15 minutes. Just put a small piece of 2x4(I got a scrap piece from Lowes for free) I took the oppurtunity to replace the pan gasket. I highly recommend you getting the 10mm swivel socket from sears for the two bolts b/w the tranny.

Jerritt

Kent wrote:

So you just removed the oil pan and wedged a piece of 2x4 between the crank and the block? Worth a try. Did you get at the bolt from the top using a long cheater or did you manage to break it from under the car? Did you need a puller to extract the sprocket from the crank once the bolt was out?

Thanks,

Jim B.

Once the crank bolt is off and the timing belt removed, check to see if the sprocket still fits tight on the crank. There is a "key" on the back of the sprocket that indexes the sprocket to the crank. When rebuilding my Golf motor, the machine shop noticed that the sprocket had, over the years and 360K miles, moved back and forth which hammered the key in the sprocket and made it fit real sloppy on the crank. A new sprocket was cheap, like $20.

Todd Seattle,WA '86 GTI, Red of course. (exciting racey car) 259,000 miles '87 Golf, Polar Silver. (boring work car) 505,000 miles

I used a 3ft cheater pipe on a 1/2" drive breaker bar from the top. It was the only size pipe I had but I probabally could have gotten by with maybe a 1.5-2 ft pipe. I went out and purchased the 1/2" breaker bar because I sheared off the socket stub on my 3/8" drive bar when trying to get said bolt free. I busted up my knuckle on the rain tray when it broke.

Kent wrote: > So you just removed the oil pan and wedged a piece of 2x4 between the crank > and the block? Worth a try. Did you get at the bolt from the top using a > long cheater or did you manage to break it from under the car? Did you need > a puller to extract the sprocket from the crank once the bolt was out? >

I noticed the key on mine slightly mangled. Would have changed if I could have got the part quickly. But I have to order all my parts like that as there are no dealers within about 100 miles and I needed the car back in service. I'm now looking and see the one for my car at TTuning for $25.

Jerritt

snipped-for-privacy@racertodd.com wrote:

Thanks to everyone for their advice on removing my front crankshaft bolt. A block of wood against the crank and a 3 foot cheater bar from the top did the trick. It's done!