Crankshaft Pulley Removal

Hello, and thanking all for oppurtunity to post!
I am changing timing belt on my 1999 2.3L/2WD Manual 5-Speed, Ford Ranger. I am at the crankshaft pulley removal step, and do not know how to keep Crank from turning so I can remove crankshaft pulley nut, I do not want to break anything. Please advise!

Thanking you in advance,
Newagedave

Quickest way is to put a socket and breaker bar on the pulley nut and wedge that from rotating. Hold it with a booted foot while someone else engages the starter for the shortest possible time, just a bump should break it right loose.

That's a good way to break a bolt or a foot too :-(
I'll give you the easy steps ( may be a little late but it may help some one later on )
Leave all the belts on and tight.
Spray the 4 crank pulley bolts with PB blast or another penetrating oil. Use a 10mm socket ( I think its a 10mm ? ) to LOOSEN the bolts, remove the belts and remove the 4 retaining bolts on the pulley. The pulley will still be stuck on their good but a puller is not required. DO NOT TRY AND WHACK AT IT WITH A HAMMER. All that will accomplish it damaging the pulley and your timing marks if its really stuck on there ( most are). Simply use a breaker bar against the block and the pulley to pop it right off. It wont take much force and it will pop right off.

The part that pertains directly to you:
Now you'll need to remove the pulley hub from the crank to get the shield off and so the timing belt can be slide off and back on. To do this put the truck in 1st gear and push down the E-brake. Remove the belt tensioner with a T50 torx socket. again spray her down with PB blast before hand.( removal of the tensioner arm and pulley is needed to gain clearance to the alternator pulley to do the next step) Then you will simply need to take a large pipe wrench and bite it down firmly on the FLATS toward the outer edge ( in the spaces if possible ) of the hub and rest the handle of the pipe wrench under tension so it holds its bit on the alternator pulley. Spray the crank bolt down with PB blast and let her sit a little while. Spray it down again and let her sit a little more. Use a 1/2" drive breaker bar with an extension cheater pipe on the end and have at it. It will break loose. The cheater bar and breaker bar combo will do it if you put some rear behind it.

I don't trust the old start bump method at all. To many things can go wrong causing bodily harm to you, your truck or your tools IMHO.

To get the outer cover off remove the center retaining screw with a LARGE philips head screw driver then work your way around the cover releasing the tabs. After its loose and hanging there work it out towards you straight toward the core support by twisting it side ways a little and jaring it up or down as needed to slide it out. Install it the same way. At 1st you will be like " damn it ! the lip cast in to the block is stopping me from getting the belt on or off ! " LOL ! just pry the old belt out and push the new belt in. It will slip right in there with no harm to the belt with little effort if you go at it the right way. Just play with it until you hit the spot.

Using the steps above you do not have to remove the power steering, AC, brackets, Alternator, drain the coolant and remove the hoses or any of that crap.
Thats exactly how I did it on my 93 2.3L 5spd and it worked like a charm. Less work, faster job. ;-)

when I got my replacement crank pulley from the junk yard without power tools or anything I stuck a long spark plug wire from the car next to the truck in a spark plug hole, locked the engine solid... and most likely won't hurt the internals

Then you are transferring force from the crank straight to the top of the piston and pushing it up in to the head and valves. What if it breaks in there ? You be screwed :-(

I usually just put the truck in gear and the ebrake on and use some muscles or an impact wrench to brake the bolt loose.

think about it, these things have hydraulic lifters and you are moving the crank by hand IE SLOW, if you are pushing on a valve it will just compress the lash adjusters

you think this is harder on the combustion chamber than someone running 30psi of boost? I don't think so. The soft silicone plug wire should be easier on the chamber than rope which is the normal method people use for this method

on my truck I do it with the truck in 4th with the parking brake on, since my parking brake sucks it generally moves a bit, but that method works fine, I use the rope method as a last resort.

Crankshaft Pulley Bolt Removal

Lock the crankshaft by putting vehichle in high gear and engage parking break. Use a good 6 point socket (22mm) on a breaker bar with a few feet of pipe for leverage .
Use a smoth steady pull and be brave!

A HIGH gear and LONNNNG pipe for leverage...

smoochy said:

Lock the crankshaft by putting vehichle in high gear and engage parking break. Use a good 6 point socket (22mm) on a breaker bar with a few feet of pipe for leverage .
Use a smooth steady pull and be brave!

Click to expand...

+++1

I was going to suggest the rope in the sparkplug hole trick, but there was concern voiced about possible damage. If you consider the torque the engine puts out while running, then the torque load required to loosen the pulley retainer bolt should be well within the capacity of the crankshaft, piston and cylinder head. Put #1 on the compression stroke, feed in the rope, and bring it up close to TDC from the burn stroke, compressing the rope. The valves should be closed, so they present no problem. You will be trying to turn the engine backwards to loosen the bolt, so go past TDC and when you bring it back you are going to pre-compress the rope in place, so should have no difficulty in using a breaker bar. I used an old Craftsman torque wrench when I didn't have a breaker bar. Before that, I used a 3/8" drive ratchet with a length of pipe.
tom

John Smith said:

+++1

Click to expand...

+++2
I tried the 1st gear thing and even with the parking brake on it was pushing the truck backwards as I pulled the breaker bar. So definitely put it in 5th good call guys, thanks for your help.

tomw said:

Put #1 on the compression stroke, feed in the rope, and bring it up close to TDC from the burn stroke, compressing the rope. The valves should be closed, so they present no problem.

Click to expand...

I know this is an old thread...but wouldn't the rope get burned up when the gas explodes?





Of course not...the plug is out so there will be no spark...


Ahem, sorry, been one of those weeks...

The clutch on mine would not hold. Six foot cheater pipe just made it slip. I ended up using a 24 in pipe wrench on the damper after I removed the crank pulley from the damper. Wedged the pipe wrench handle on the frame and then the 6 ft cheater worked OK. Thought I was going to flip the truck over the way it was rocking

Needless to say, it isn't that tight now, and comes out fairly easily. No room for an impact.

Charles

breaking loose the main crank bolt.

Hi kids. So I tried to pop the crank bolt loose by grabbing the pully hub with a pipe wrench, bracing the pipe wrench on the engine method. When I pulled on the bolt with a big breaker bar a BIG chunk of the alternator bracket broke off! Be sure you brace the pipe wrench on the frame rails only. Thanks. That is all....

I think my alternator top bracket broke because I used to use it as a leverage point for doing the timing belt...but it never snapped in the process...