'00 Crank Pulley Removal?

[sixstanger00]

Hey bros and hoes!

Been a while since I posted here - you know, work, bills, work, bills, work, bills, work...

Anywho,

Needing to get the crank pulley off my old 3.8 so I can remove the timing cover. I'm reusing the timing cover on my 4.3 build. The problem I'm having is that the pulley is a very deep bowl shape, and the bolts provided with the "crow's foot" puller aren't long enough to reach the threaded holes. I was trying with a rented puller from Advance.

Anyone know how to get this darned thing off?!

Before you ask, NO, it isn't the 2-piece variety that unbolts from behind the damper. It's not the original engine that came in the car, but the donor was a '99, so it's still the 1-piece design.

REALLY need to get this thing off so I can cart this useless block and a box load of other components to the scrap yard. I'd like to at least recoup the $120 I had to spend at a Pull-A-Part on another block & oil pan.

Any help would be appreciated!

P.S. Anyone else have trouble getting their water pump pulley off? Mine won't BUDGE!

 

[330CubeGt]

Go to You local parts store and rent a harmonic balancer puller? OR Buy yourself one...

-330CubeGt

 

[330CubeGt]

Did you hit the water pump pulley on one side? They get corrosive around the snout and sometimes take a wack off a hammer onto get off.

-330CubeGt

 

[sixstanger00]

Go to You local parts store and rent a harmonic balancer puller? OR Buy yourself one...

-330CubeGt

As I said, already tried that. The 3.8 crank pulley requires a 3-bolt "crow's foot" or "duck's foot" type puller, and I rented one from the local Advance Auto Parts store.

The problem is that the bolts provided with the puller aren't long enough to reach from the puller to the threaded holes on the crank pulley. The 3.8 pulley is a deep, tapered bowl shape as opposed to the 4.6's flat shape. The pulley's taper is so deep, the edges of the puller will hit the tapered walls of the pulley before it can get close enough for the 3 bolts to even contact the threaded holes.

I checked with several tool retailers like Harbor Freight, and a they sell a puller with what appears to be bolts of adequate length, but only comes with two bolts!!!!!!!!

Basically, the provided bolts are about 5" in length, but need to be closer to 7" in length in order to be adequately threaded into the pulley. I considered tracking down some 7" long, 8mm fine-threaded bolts myself to use in conjunction with the crow puller, but no one sells a bolt off the shelf with those specs.

I know there's got to be an easy way to get the thing off, because the block I pulled from a Pull-A-Part had it's crank pulley already removed.

Regarding the water pump pulley, I've tried hammering it from the back by placing a 2x4 against the pulley and striking it to "push" the pulley off the snout, but it won't budge. The snout does appear to be a bit corroded. Admittedly, I have't wrestled with the w. pump nearly as much as the crank, since it's kind of unimportant at this stage of my build.

 

[sixstanger00]

'00 Crank Pulley Removal? *RESOLVED*

As I said, already tried that. The 3.8 crank pulley requires a 3-bolt "crow's foot" or "duck's foot" type puller, and I rented one from the local Advance Auto Parts store.

The problem is that the bolts provided with the puller aren't long enough to reach from the puller to the threaded holes on the crank pulley. The 3.8 pulley is a deep, tapered bowl shape as opposed to the 4.6's flat shape. The pulley's taper is so deep, the edges of the puller will hit the tapered walls of the pulley before it can get close enough for the 3 bolts to even contact the threaded holes.

I checked with several tool retailers like Harbor Freight, and a they sell a puller with what appears to be bolts of adequate length, but only comes with two bolts!!!!!!!!

Basically, the provided bolts are about 5" in length, but need to be closer to 7" in length in order to be adequately threaded into the pulley. I considered tracking down some 7" long, 8mm fine-threaded bolts myself to use in conjunction with the crow puller, but no one sells a bolt off the shelf with those specs.

I know there's got to be an easy way to get the thing off, because the block I pulled from a Pull-A-Part had it's crank pulley already removed.

Regarding the water pump pulley, I've tried hammering it from the back by placing a 2x4 against the pulley and striking it to "push" the pulley off the snout, but it won't budge. The snout does appear to be a bit corroded. Admittedly, I have't wrestled with the w. pump nearly as much as the crank, since it's kind of unimportant at this stage of my build.

UPDATE---------------

Got the pulley off today. :slowclap: Bought the $20 crow's foot puller from Advance Auto, and after figuring out which bolts fit, I zipped over to my local hardware store and found as close a match as I could. The odd bolt was about 1/8" shorter than the other two, and had a slightly finer thread pitch, but I got them screwed in without a problem. Didn't even damage the threads on the pulley.

If anyone else has to do this, make sure you get the same grade bolt as provided with the puller. I think these were grade 5; they have to be fairly strong to resist the stress of the puller. :thumbsup: