ideas on crank nut removal

[Roycape]

What's worked for me successfully on the 2000 motor is to put the car in neutral, remove the spark plugs and start stuffing a rope down the # 1 cylinder. It may take 6' of rope. Then start turning the crank nut counter clockwise. I used a 3 foot 3/4" breaker bar with a 38 mm socket to do this. As you take up the slack in the cylinder you'll feel it get tight, then apply force and it will break loose. It works everytime for me.

Installation is the reverse. Be careful of not putting too much pressure with that kind of leverage or else you may strip the threads on the crankshaft.

Good luck.

[zachmac]

I hope that everyone knew I was speaking tongue in cheek. It was a self-effacing joke, Keith, honest. Actually, I'm lucky nothing was damaged from my bone head mistake. The radiator is pretty close when the ratchet starts flying!
Ron

When I did mine I actually did this, BUT I had removed the radiator to gain access to stuff first.

[ddragon]

Roycape I owe you a beer! The rope trick worked like a charm! Thanks a ton!!!!!

[124cso]

I had this same problem but did not want to Bastardise things as some others have suggested. Ended up making a tool.

Search my posts for "Tool for loosening front pulley" and pics are still on flickr.

[co200balt]

Hi Guys,

Tryng to get the crank pulley off my 79 2000. for those of you using an impact wrench, are you all using universal joints? i am not seeing any way to get a straight shot at the crank nut. All this to remove a cover plate in order to change a water pump! GRRRR.

[124cso]

I got mine off without having to remove radiator, or grille and without wrecking anything. See my pics - effectively just very big spanners and grunt ! the only reason I can see that they put them on so tight is for airpump on smog gear and the AC pumps ?
I torqued mine back to European Coupe specs ( about 95 Ft Lbs ) and had no problems.

[RRoller123]

@124cso: Where can we see the pics?

[BEEK]

i use a large set of channel lock pliers, i mean really big. grip the outside of the crank pulley, then use a breaker bar and a 1 1/2 inch socket. i have removed 1000's of crank nuts this way on fiats. simple and works. lock the pliers around the pulley and rest them on the side of the engine bay

[124ADDHE]

I have done this with all my fiats at one time or another, it can be done with 1/2" ratchet, short extension, 38mm socket and a 1/2"-3/4" adaptor. First you place the socket on the nut and then piece things together.

For extra torque you can use a 2X4 and smash the ratchet as it hangs from engine OR you can (not recommended due to rad) wedge a block of wood over the sway bar and have this backup the ratchet as you use the car in 5th gear and push to use the cars weight and a bit of momentum to break the nut free.

Good luck, this one is not fun at times.

i lost a crank nut in walley somewhere (surrey)....i was lucky to return the next day and find my car not stolen/burned to ground/top ripped open

[Wheel]

The crank nut on my car was frustrating to remove as well. I ended up doing something very similar to what BEEK has posted. The following is a copy/paste from the link where similar information is posted. http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... ey#p125971
_______________________________________________
Re: Removing the Crankshaft pulley in situ?

Postby Wheel on Mon Nov 14, 2011 1:21 pm

majicwrench wrote:Some chain "wrenches" have a place to insert a 1/2 drive breaker bar.Those are pretty cheap. Other, like mine, have a long (24") handle. Often I slide a pipe over that as well. Then I use a socket and I have a looooong 1/2 breaker bar. I often put a pipe over that as well. The longer lever you have the better control and less strain on the ole bod. Like Bob said, good control over everything. Would scare the crap out of me to use the starter motor.

I almost never use the ground/chassis as leverage. With long pipes, is pretty simple stuff. I do a lot of timing belts and balancers on a lot of diff cars, usually no big deal. Except for some Honda's then my 3/4" stuff comes out.

___________________________________________

Majicwrench,
I used your advice with the chain wrench, 1/2" breaker bar and a snipe pipe on each for additional leverage. The crankshaft pulley nut broke loose very easily. I was not expecting it to break loose quite so easily as other removal methods only ended in frustration.
I started off by just having the emergency brake engaged and the transmission in 5th gear using the breaker bar, this didn't work. Then I rented an electric impact wrench, Dewalt DW291, supposedly capable of 230-240 ft-lbs of torque. This didn't work either, luckily the rental store returned my money (about $30). Finally I rented a chain wrench ($5) and found a couple of 1" sched 40 pipes (3 ft long) and had success.

The car is a 1982 Spider. Removed the radiator and grilles. The crankshaft nut is a normal RH nut, not LH. Used a 38mm socket.

Thanks for the advice, only wished I had followed it earlier!!

[co200balt]

Thanks guys! the chain wrench worked like a charm. She might even run again today!

[124cso]

@124cso: Where can we see the pics?

I've tried to renew the link but it does not want to work.
Go to flickr.com and search for pics named - TOOL 001, TOOL 003 & TOOL 004 they are in the first row of pics - from user fi124cso

[124JOE]

What's worked for me successfully on the 2000 motor is to put the car in neutral, remove the spark plugs and start stuffing a rope down the # 1 cylinder. It may take 6' of rope. Then start turning the crank nut counter clockwise. I used a 3 foot 3/4" breaker bar with a 38 mm socket to do this. As you take up the slack in the cylinder you'll feel it get tight, then apply force and it will break loose. It works everytime for me.

Installation is the reverse. Be careful of not putting too much pressure with that kind of leverage or else you may strip the threads on the crankshaft.

Good luck.

this is how i removed my nut on my taurus last xmas
worked like a charm

[majicwrench]

The ole rope down the hole thing can work BUT if you are not on the compression stroke the valves will opening/closing and you can bend valves.
Keith

[Landhawk]

This is a little different topic, but close enough I think, any tips on removing the camshaft pulleys, especially doing so without them moving...... Never done this but since the timing belt is removed at that time it seems like they could move easily... the manual says to use tool A.60446.. tried searching but couldn't find any results. Is that tool available? Or is there another way to keep the cams from turning while removing the pulley bolt? Also use a chain wrench? Manual says those should be torqued to 87 ft. lbs, does that sound correct or are there variations like the crank nut?
Thanks