Ways to loosen Crank Balancer?
 

Well, I am trying to take the crank balancer off a 98 w210 e320. I got the belt off with ease. I want to see what are some of the best ways to get the balancer off. I am taking about taking a propane torch to heat up the bolt and loosen. Will I demage the engine by heat the bolt? I've tried a 3 ft breaker bar with no luck.
Thanks

Tony, I am not sure about your car but on W126 you do not have to take off the crank pully nut. There are six small bolts inside the main pully around the Crank bolt, If yplou take them off, the pully will slide out with couple of strikes of hammer or mallet. Once the pully is off, use either a puller or 2 pry bars in a rocking motion to take the Harmonic Balancer off. Do not forget to mark the degree dial and belt pully position.

Hope this helps

You don't immobilize the 112/113 engine in this manner, there is no tool made for holding the flywheel/ring gear on these engines, the crank can't take the stress.
The proper tool is a 3 pronged holder which engages into the "web" of the front pulley.
Heating the bolt may help soften the thread locker. I assume you are replacing the harmonic balancer anyways, it's the only reason I've seen one taken off. But it's a big bolt, and I also doubt the small torch will have much affect (won't heat it up enough to do much good).
Sometimes removing the radiator and condensor will help so you can use impact tools.
Otherwise, you need the right tools and a long pipe over the breaker bar, and a big guy to help pull.

Gilly

I tried with a 1/2" impact wrench.. didn't do much to the bolt. I used a 3/8" 3" extention to jam the spoke of the balancer as sugguested by someone. I will try to use the blow torch to soften the locktight, then a 4' black pipe over 1/2" breakbar.. let's see if that will work.

I think the correct tool is actually four pronged. It engages the balancer. I myself would not use any heat, you'll need at least 5 foot of bar on both the special balancer spanner and on your socket breaker bar. Use two people. I don't remember the correct torque setting

Is there room on that model to try the Swedish Method??
 

This is actually factory recommended for Volvoes (who only started having harmonic balancers about 15 years ago) and often used by SAAB mechanics, too:

First you disable the ignition or diesel fuel supply.

Then you get your socket on the nut with your longest breaker bar and cheater pipe wedged and bungie corded up against the chassis somewhere so that it can't turn in the direction of engine rotation and the socket can't pop off the bolt head.

Finally, you just hit the starter switch a few times and it'll usually spin the bolt loose.

Wow... very interesting method.. I don't know if I want to take a chance and ruin the starter motor and the flywheel?? I can definitely can use the breaker bar to hold the bolt.

I'm sorry, but I cannot imagine a starter that could develop enough torque to pull this off. Plus, Gilly mentioned that the crankshaft is not up to the stress, so just imagine the torque involved!

I have actually seen someone pull a car (with a second car) in gear with the breaker bar dragging on the floor to break the bolt free. It was a manual, naturally. Comical. Worked, but must be hard on the driveline and gearbox.

I hope that 3/8 extension is resting on something very substantial.
Once the pulley is immobilized, simply position the breaker bar handle such that you can use a floor jack to lift it. Unstoppable, and you will not need pipe extensions and such. Pipes can be difficult to position. Also, you are less likely to damage things this way, including yourself.

Forget the propane. The jack will overcome any stinkin' threadlock.

This is a really great trick for any large stubborn bolt with a horizontal orientation.

Best of luck.

Although my car is a 400E when I had to place the water pump the service CD's called for the removal of that bolt, its tightened to 400nm, thats a almost 300 ft. lbs! The CD's said to get that special tool that mounts to the starter and locks the flywheel in place. Luckliy I just removed those 6 bolts to the pulley

Re: Is there room on that model to try the Swedish Method??
 

I've seen this approach work and I've seen it completely round off the head of the bolt. If anything slips....................................

There is no tool like this for the 112/113 motor.

Gilly

Guys,

Can tell you from experience the best way to loosen the crank bolt on any vehicle is to first stop the engine from rotating. Anything you do to remove the bolt will have a much higher chance of success if you can stop [lock] the rotation of the motor when you apply torque. In the past, Ive had luck using (or making) a tool to lock the flywheel or ring gear in place while applying the torque to the balancer nut.

Second - get a big air impact powered by a good compressor. Ingersol Rand or Chicago Pneumatic are my choices. Both of them make 1/2 inch drive impacts with up to 500 lbs of torque. A compressor with a large tank is helpful. Low cfm units with small tanks are useless for this kind of work. Most good 1/2" impacts are going to use 5-8 cfm. Some of those little guys are barely putting out 5 @ 90psi - just not enough. And stay away from the off brand impacts. Sloppy motors. No torque and they use a lot of air doing nothing. They basically just exhaust the air that a good motor will use for power.

I've used the "bump start" methods with the big breaker bar. Works, however, it can be dangerous. Bar breaks, slips off, etc.


Brian

Crank bolt
 

Mine is a 1989 190E 2.6. I bought a cheap 3/4 inch drive breaker bar and 28 mm (I think) socket. I locked the crank with a big bar of 1/4 steel with a hole drilled though, and a bolt into one of the holes on the flange. A smear of grease on the socket allows for an accurate torque reading (the socket prevents the crank from rotating). The bar is against a piece of 2x4 so it does not damage the bodywork. The bolt came off like nothing. Putting it back on, I just hung 200 lb. (myself) from a point 18 inches along the breaker bar.

I don't recomend using a pipe wrench on the camshaft to turn the engine, like the previous owner did.