Resolved 1G How to remove balance shaft sprocket?

[XC92]

Finally started my Talon's timing belt replacement project today. It was slow but steady, I never did this before so I went about it methodically plus some things were really stuck on tight and it took a while to get them off. Whoever put the camshaft sprockets back on really torqued those guys down hard (or is it just the clockwise motion of the TB that does this over time, the way a chain tightens a bicycle's freehub once you start riding it?). I had to use 2 cheater pipe and nearly took out my back.

Anyway, I got everything off but the front balance shaft sprocket. I'm not doing a balance shaft delete but I do want to replace its seal, along with the 4 other seals in the front (2 cams, crank and oil pump), and the sprocket has to be removed to replace it. Already got the parts, all OEM. I tried to remove it with the balance shaft belt still on, using an impact wrench, but it broke the belt (meaning it was ready to break on its own and I was probably just days away from a possibly destroyed engine if I put this off much longer).

So how do I get it off? I know there's a special tool with right angle prongs that you insert into the holes on the outside of the sprocket to hold it steady, but I don't have that tool and don't want to buy one for just this one task. I tried using right angle snap ring pliers but I nearly broke them trying so I need something more heavy duty. The sprocket is too high up to get a good angle with a screwdriver.

Any suggestions? I guess I don't HAVE to replace that seal, but I'd really like to while I'm in there and since I bought it. Is there some hack, or a tool not specifically meant for this but which can be used to hold the sprocket in place while I break the bolt? I wonder if I can fashion something out of the broken belt using vise grip pliers or something. I quit for the day as it was getting dark, but I'd like to get it done tomorrow so I can complete the TB job.

Since I had to remove the VC to get the cam sprockets off, I took a picture of the cylinder head. What do you think of its condition? Is the wear on the cam lobes normal for 78k miles and do you see anything that I should be concerned about?

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I just had an idea. Temporarily reinstall the crankshaft balance shaft sprocket, install the broken balance shaft belt such that there's tension on it turning things clockwise, then use an impact wrench to get the bolt off.

Would that work?

 

[MattHDSM]

Try heating up the bolt, it may be loctite that it is preventing the bolt from un-torqueing. I don't recall having any issue when I pulled my balance shafts, my sprocket easily came off with a quick blip of the impact and a large open end of a wrench in the teeth "jamming" the sprocket. Be careful not to damage the teeth on the sprocket though.

 

[AWD-Tony]

With the old belt, put it on the sprocket and use vise grips to hold the belt taut. Then use the impact after heating up the bolt. It should’ve come off with all the belts still on.

All the bolts and nuts threads are standard.

 

[97egl]

I was just starting to type this ^^^^ and it said new messages have been posted. I've done this several times. Works every time

You can't tell much by looking at the head from there other than that the oil must have been changed regularly because the head isn't stained dark brown inside.... you probably already knew that since I believe your the original owner of that car if I remember right from one of your other posts. 78K is low for these cars if taken care of so I wouldn't be too concerned about anything mechanical other than maintenance

 

[XC92]

Try heating up the bolt, it may be loctite that it is preventing the bolt from un-torqueing. I don't recall having any issue when I pulled my balance shafts, my sprocket easily came off with a quick blip of the impact and a large open end of a wrench in the teeth "jamming" the sprocket. Be careful not to damage the teeth on the sprocket though.

With the old belt, put it on the sprocket and use vise grips to hold the belt taut. Then use the impact after heating up the bolt. It should’ve come off with all the belts still on.

All the bolts and nuts threads are standard.

Unfortunately I don't have a torch. But I assume that the impact didn't work because there was no resistance since the belt broke. I think I need just a little resistance for it to work. I think that using the old, broken belt is the key.

Perhaps I can wrap it around the sprocket to protect the teeth then use a huge pipe wrench I have that I think will fit over it to secure it. Or just use a wrench directly on the teeth and be careful to not damage them.

How do I torque it back on when it's time? Will the new belt keep it in place enough to handle whatever torque it requires (which is not a lot, I think ~33ft-lb)? I got the Gates racing balance shaft belt, which is kevlar, so perhaps that'll help. Or should I just do the reverse of how I got it off?

Oh, and should I threadlock all the bolts and nuts when I put it all back on again? I tend to use blue, because I don't have heat and prefer to not use it.

Finally, I'd like to clean everything up before I put all the new parts on. Is that ok, or could water or cleaner seep into the engine or other parts and do damage? I was going to use diluted Simple Green or Super Clean. And should I do this before or after removing the old water pump (which I'm replacing too)?

Not sure why I didn't catch this when I did a search before. Someone had the exact same issue for the exact same reason (and was replacing the BSB with a Gates racing as well to boot):

https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/remove-front-balance-shaft-sprocket.519665/

His solution was to buy a cheap new belt and use it to lock the sprocket in place. I won't do that but other solutions were offered in the thread, including using a special tool that looks like a shallow open end wrench, and the old belt locked tight with vice grips like suggested above. I'll try one of these.

I was just starting to type this ^^^^ and it said new messages have been posted. I've done this several times. Works every time

You can't tell much by looking at the head from there other than that the oil must have been changed regularly because the head isn't stained dark brown inside.... you probably already knew that since I believe your the original owner of that car if I remember right from one of your other posts. 78K is low for these cars if taken care of so I wouldn't be too concerned about anything mechanical other than maintenance

Thanks. It looked good to me but I'm not expert. So the shiny wear on the lobes is normal for this engine after this many miles?

In any case even to my non-expert eyes it looked great compared to the head on my mom's Camry, also a '92 but poorly maintained. I had to pull the cover recently to replace the TB on it and it literally looked like someone emptied a BBQ grill into it. Tons and tons of cruddy black granules that took me hours to remove. I'm going to run it through several short OCI's and put some LM engine flush in there as well.

 

[AWD-Tony]

You can torque both bs sprockets once you have all the belts on. Just leave it in gear. You can use blue locktite (options) but use red for the large bolt that holds the crank sprocket.

You can clean the area before replacing the wp and front case seals. It won’t get into your engine.

 

[XC92]

But even if it's in gear won't the diffs just send all power to the left wheel so there won't be enough resistance? I was actually wondering if I can use whatever method I used to get it off to torque it back on, before installing the new belt.

 

[XC92]

I got the sprocket off today. Using the old belt trick didn't work as it just broke yet again (I'm now doubly glad I went with Kevlar on both belts, although the over 15 year old Mitsu stock timing belt looks quite good so perhaps there's something about the balance belt that makes it break earlier, maybe that it spins twice as fast).

So I improvised, and used a large crescent wrench opened up all the way, to secure the teeth, to approximate what the special tool does. I then used a 15" breaker bar to release the bolt. Worked right away and no teeth were damaged.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning up all the parts that came off and the whole engine front. Decades of gunk and grime there and it was pretty nasty. It's going to rain all day tomorrow but Sunday should be nice and I hope to put everything back on. There's actually more room there than I expected so it should go fine. It's getting everything off and cleaning it all up that's always the hard part.