Working on cars

[EricInTheHouse]

Any of you work on your own cars?.. I do and today I had the worst damn time of my life working on my car.. My timing belt blew off so I had to tear down the whole front of the motor to put a new freakin rubber band, piece of crap belt on.

I still haven't finished because I can't get the stupid bolt out of the harmonic balancer(attached to the crankshaft)... I have to keep the crank from spinning while I wrench out the bolt.. arrgghhhh I can't keep the crank from spinning!... jezus ... If I had tons of money I would just haul it to the repair shop and have them deal with it, but the truck is old as hell, and it would cost me 200 bucks or more if they did it...

Work will be calling soon and I have not one running vehicle... Damn I'm so sick of cars.... jeezus! </rant>

 

[Bible_Belt]

Probably less than 1% of all motorists can change their own timing belt. I bet it's more like .01%. That is not an easy job.

If there is a car or truck forum specifically geared toward the make or model of your truck, those guys might be able to help. I use the 3si forums for help with my Stealth.

 

[EricInTheHouse]

I took two years of auto shop, and I love working on my cars, and I've changed the belt on this truck 3 years ago with no problem, but now That damn bolt doesn't want to come out, and it's pissing me off, lol... If that bolt breaks of in the crank, I'll have to remove the whole motor..

I looked on the web foir advice, and one guy tells me to put it in park so the crank doesn't turn...lol.... no duh... I have all sorts of things trying to hold the crank from spinning... nothing works.

Frustrating that a 2 hour job is now on day 2!! arrghhhhh I don't want to spend 200 bucks to a shop, but I'm getting really peeved at my truck ATM....

 

[ketostix]

What kind of vehicle is it? I assume it is an automatic transmission, so putting it in Park will do nothing to hold the crankshaft. Easiest thing is to get a Strap wrench and wrap it around the crankshaft pully. It will hold the crankshaft from turning. Use a 1/2" drive 6-point socket on the pully bolt with a long ratchet or breaker bar (if you have one) and it will come off.

Strap wrenches aren't that easy to find, but Sears tools dept. might have one. You can also take the plastic sheild off the bottom of the transmission near the flywheel and stick a heavy screw driver or similar into gear teeth on the flywheel, this will easily hold the crank from turning because the leverage of big diameter flywheel.

 

[EricInTheHouse]

What kind of vehicle is it? I assume it is an automatic transmission, so putting it in Park will do nothing to hold the crankshaft. Easiest thing is to get a Strap wrench and wrap it around the crankshaft pully. It will hold the crankshaft from turning. Use a 1/2" drive 6-point socket on the pully bolt with a long ratchet or breaker bar (if you have one) and it will come off.

Strap wrenches aren't that easy to find, but Sears tools dept. might have one. You can also take the plastic sheild off the bottom of the transmission near the flywheel and stick a heavy screw driver or similar into gear teeth on the flywheel, this will easily hold the crank from turning because the leverage of big diameter flywheel.

Great tips... It's a manual tranny... I put it in first gear.. The transmission bell housing is solid against the motor(know removable sheild)

It's a 97 Ford Ranger.

I just put on a big C-Clamp and jammed it against the water pump... I put all the pressure I could on it with a breaker bar and a handle from a jack.... I got it off, but boy I was nervous it was going to snap..

I'm going to look at those strap wrenches you told about... Geez it took a tremendous amount of pressure to get that bolt to break loose... Seems like the strap wrench would snap...

Now I have to pull the balancer off with a puller I just got....oh and now I need to remove the radiator so the puller will fit... What A mess

Thanks again...

 

[ketostix]

Oh well if it was a manual it would have a solid bellhousing, but putting it in gear and setting the parking brake would hold the engine. Sounds like the pulley bolt was over tighten last time. Well glad you got it off. Normally the balancer is not press fit if there's a belt. I'm pretty sure the Ford engine doesn't have a pressed on balancer, so you should be able to work it off the crank without a puller.

 

[ketostix]

One more tip go to a Ford dealer and get an original belt. A lot of times they don't cost much more than one from an aftermarket parts store but they last a lot longer.

 

[EricInTheHouse]

Hey, you are right..... the balancer practicly fell off(thank god)
I'm going to the dealer in a minute to get the spring for the belt tensioner(mine broke) and I'll get a belt.

I'm going to clean the entire front of the engine too, and put a new gasket in the thermostat housing. Looks like I had a small coolant leak and the coolant was dripping onto the belt and sprocket on the crankshaft.. Explains why the belt failed.

 

[MacAvoy]

5 years ago, I was into cars. I had a couple of MCSS's. I bought some custom headers for them, me & my cousin took it over to my back yard mechanics but he was busy so he said we could use his tools.

Well one of the bolts broke off in the heads. We ended up having to take off the heads, take it to a welding shop to remove the bolt. I ended up going 3 weeks without my car. It was awful, I even had to drive it 2 hours sounding like a helicopter to get it to a muffler shop to do a custom welding job to match up to the cat converter.

 

[EricInTheHouse]

^^ oh yes, lol... I've been there.

really sweet sound those bolts make when they snap, and you know at that instant, a two hour job just turned into two days...

I just step back and laugh when stuff like that happens... I mean what ya gonna do??

 

[ketostix]

Hey, you are right..... the balancer practicly fell off(thank god)
I'm going to the dealer in a minute to get the spring for the belt tensioner(mine broke) and I'll get a belt.

I'm going to clean the entire front of the engine too, and put a new gasket in the thermostat housing. Looks like I had a small coolant leak and the coolant was dripping onto the belt and sprocket on the crankshaft.. Explains why the belt failed.

Yeah if oil or coolant gets on the belt it will shorten it's life. If I was changing a timing belt, I would never use an aftermarket belt. I learned my leson. I don't trust aftermarket drive belts or hoses either.

 

[ketostix]

^^ oh yes, lol... I've been there.

really sweet sound those bolts make when they snap, and you know at that instant, a two hour job just turned into two days...

I just step back and laugh when stuff like that happens... I mean what ya gonna do??

Ah the broken bolt. That's got to be the biggest bane in auto mechanics. There's no easy way to get them out. I've drilled out several broken bolts. They are hard as hell and it's not easy to drill through one. Not to mention you oftentimes have to disassemble the part off the car to get access to the bolt. To really drill a bolt out on center, and rethreaded the hole for the same size bolt is a job for a machinist with proper equipment and most of them still can't do it right.

If it's not a blind bolt, I'd just drill it out and slip a smaller bolt through the whole and put a nut on it, but they're usually bolted blind into a casting and you can't do that.

 

[iqqi]

Wow, Keto is good for something!

A man who knows cars that well is kind of sexy. But only if he has all of his teeth.

 

[ketostix]

Wow, Keto is good for something!

A man who knows cars that well is kind of sexy. But only if he has all of his teeth.

I'm good for a lot of things and have all my teeth. What a sterotype that was. You must be a misandrist !

 

[iqqi]

I'm good for a lot of things and have all my teeth. What a sterotype that was. You must be a misandrist !

Well you for sure can't spell.

 

[ketostix]

Well you for sure can't spell.

I can, just a sloppy typer. But who cares, you can't think right !