Crank pulley reinstall

[skyrunner]

I have finished most of my 60k maintenance and am at the point where I am reinstalling the crank pulley, but have run into a snag. Getting the pulley off was a PITA but a strong 3 jaw puller worked. Well now that I have to put it back on I am worried that I will effe something up. I tried to push the pulley on with the crank bolt but I have really been cranking on the bolt and I am worried that I am cranking too hard. I have been using my impact wrench but not on its highest setting. How hard is too hard?? I have read some people saying you shouldn't crank over 50 ft-lbs. I also have read you can crank that bolt to 180 ft-lbs. I'm not sure who is right. I made sure to lubricate the pulley before reinstall, but I didn't expect this much resistance. I feel like I might have done something wrong. Did I miss something??

 

[cs82685]

You can try heating it up in the oven at like 400 degrees for a short while and then quickly try and get it on. I've gotten to the point where if I get it on just a bit I'll smack it on with a hammer. I was afraid to do this at first, but then when I learned that's basically how the crank sprocket goes on, I tried it and it worked fine for me, just be careful not to mess up the end of your crank.

 

[skyrunner]

How hard do you hit it? Do you smack it directly or hold something on the center of it? Block of wood perhaps?

 

[Diamondrev]

make sure you put the pulley on good. and torque that pulley bolt to 105 lbs. make sure to use some locktite... i didnt torque my pulley bolt on right and it just fell out. luckily i was close to my house. but now i cant drive and i have to do a junk yard run.

 

[VelocitàPaola]

When I reinstalled my pulley, I used a heavy mallet to drive it partially onto the crank after ensuring it was seated right. Once the pulley was on the crank far enough to thread the bolt about 1/2", I used the bolt to finish the job. A socket wrench and about 1' of copper pipe for leverage will help the process.

 

[bullettdsm]

I heat it up to 250 in the oven for about 10 minutes (some say that if you heat it up too high, it will cause the "dampener" to break down) and then I put a little grease on the crank snout and hammer it on a little bit with a 3lb baby sledge and a block of wood (should always use the wood so you won't mar up the product and it absorbs the impact a little). Far enough so that the stock bolt can catch with a safe amount of threads. I then use the bolt to pull it all the way on (I actually use anti-seize on the threads).

Some just pound it on with a sledge and wood. While I understand the thought process of the thrust bearing support and surface area coverage of that bearing with the crank, I just can't bang it all the way on cold

MB

 

[cs82685]

I heat it up to 250 in the oven for about 10 minutes (some say that if you heat it up too high, it will cause the "dampener" to break down) and then I put a little grease on the crank snout and hammer it on a little bit with a 3lb baby sledge and a block of wood (should always use the wood so you won't mar up the product and it absorbs the impact a little). Far enough so that the stock bolt can catch with a safe amount of threads. I then use the bolt to pull it all the way on (I actually use anti-seize on the threads).

Some just pound it on with a sledge and wood. While I understand the thought process of the thrust bearing support and surface area coverage of that bearing with the crank, I just can't bang it all the way on cold

MB

This is basically what I do, but with all the detail I forgot and didn't put in my post

 

[adamzty]

You can get a bolt about 1" longer than the stock bolt and pull it on with that. Use the longer bolt to start pulling it on, and use the stock bolt to finish it. Just make sure you get it threaded in a few turns first, you don't want to strip the threads in the crank.

 

[VelocitàPaola]

This is basically what I do, but with all the detail I forgot and didn't put in my post

Ditto.

 

[skyrunner]

You can get a bolt about 1" longer than the stock bolt and pull it on with that. Use the longer bolt to start pulling it on, and use the stock bolt to finish it. Just make sure you get it threaded in a few turns first, you don't want to strip the threads in the crank.

This is exactly what I ended up doing. I was just a little concerned over the service manual recommendation that this bolt should be tightened to only 45 ft-lbs! But after some internal debate and a lot of torque I was able to get to pulley on all the way last night. I basically started with lubricating the pulley as recommended in the service manual, plus anti-seize on the threads and head of the longer bolt, hit it with the impact wrench until I could get the crank bolt on for a few threads, then I lubricated that bolt and went at it. It took FOREVER! I had to use my impact wrench at the highest torque setting, and only hit it in short bursts (seemed like it would turn a little, then stop if I tried to go all in one). In order to make sure I wasn't cranking on the bolt after the pulley was already all the way on (hard to tell since it was so hard to get it to turn period), I would back the crank bolt out every once in awhile and check the distance between the pulley and the crank by sticking a tiny hex key in the hole where the crank bolt went, and checking for space between the inside of the pulley and the end of the crank. Seemed like a safe way to tell how far I had left to go, and worked great, just was a little time consuming. Bolt was only $2.90 at the hardware store, they had plenty of them. 12x1.75x100mm. I feel like that must be a safer way than putting the pulley in the oven (the rubber on it didn't look that good to begin with). Hopefully this info will help someone in the future so what should have been a one day job doesn't have to be a 5 day job.