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View Full Version : Jesus! Crank bolts are a bit tight, eh?!



Gold 'N' Brown
Thursday 13th June 2013, 23:11
I'm in a bad mood :grumpy:

I'm determined to do a cambelt change on my V70 myself. But reading a recent thread which revealed just how cheaply some indy's will do the job had me starting to regret the decision. More so after this evening.

I started off by buying the crank holding tool in May. I saw a used Sealey one come up on eBay and won it for £20 plus £5 postage, so a little saving over buying one new.

Last weekend I discovered for myself that the stories of just how tight these crank bolts often are were obviously true. There was no way I was getting mine off with just my breaker bar and my own (lack of) strength. PLan B was put in to action and I ordered a cheap (£40) 12v impact wrench. Higher rated than most of the cheap ones, this one claims a max 340NM, so I hoped it would be up to the job. It wasn't. It didn't make blind bit of difference.

On to plan C. This involved a the breaker bar, a length of rope, and 3.0 V6 Alfa Romeo. After very carefully and cautiously implementing plan C (without pulling my Volvo off the axle stands), I thought I'd cracked it. I jumped out of the Alfa and went to see..........that I hadn't cracked the crank nut :worried: What I have managed to do though, is turn my Sealey tool in to shiny banana. And it's split the weld where the handle is fixed to the ring.

So, £25 down the drain. £40 nearly wasted on the impact wrench (hopefully it will come in useful for other jobs, so not a total waste, and I had considered getting one for a while). And I'm still no further forward.

Looks like Plan D is going to involve trying to feed the belt past the auxiliary pulley. Or, I might just not bother and just pay an indy to do it instead. But I hate giving up.

jdavis
Thursday 13th June 2013, 23:17
From the sound of that I'd be paying an indy to do it.
How much do stealers charge?

Tomcat
Thursday 13th June 2013, 23:17
Sounds like the sort of problems I normaly encounter, hope you manage to get it sorted without breaking yourself or it.

Biff
Thursday 13th June 2013, 23:30
Yeah that sounds like a job I'd have. I'd be banging on the indies door, admitting defeat & waving a white flag. Sounds like its on rather well to me.

M-R-P
Thursday 13th June 2013, 23:33
I just bit the bullet without even trying - £183 thankyouverymuch lol

Dangerous Dave
Thursday 13th June 2013, 23:37
Do you have to remove the crank pulley on the P2s then? On my 850 there is just enough room to slip the cambelt out between the pulley and the metal cover (after a bit of cajoling it into the right position)

Harvey
Thursday 13th June 2013, 23:40
You don't have to remove lower crank pulley,you can get the belt off and new on there is room there.

Dangerous Dave
Friday 14th June 2013, 00:08
Apparently there is a hole behind the starter motor where you can insert a 3/8 extension bar to lock the crankshaft at a certain position. Ignore the wedge in the pic below, just see the extension bar in the red circle. There could be a plug in this hole that you'll need to remove.
http://www.tracystruesoaps.com/tutorials/850hg/crank_lock.jpg

The pic is from this guide (guide is for an 850 but should be the same). Picture above is the 7th picture down.

http://www.tracystruesoaps.com/tutorials/850hg/p4.html


Get some scaffold bar (or anything hefty) to slide over the bar you are currently using to undo the crank nut (I use a 5 foot piece) which should give you some proper clout. I use mine for cracking head bolts, hub nuts, subframe nuts, etc. Never fails.

Wobbly Dave
Friday 14th June 2013, 00:41
I have access to a crank locking tool...

2175921760

Unless you have air tools - I think you're gonna struggle.

p fandango
Friday 14th June 2013, 04:53
when i changed the crank pulley on my 850 it came off quite easily. Tried at first with normal ratchet but because i wasn't shocking it the engine was rotating instead, got my £10 12volt impact driver onto it & it span straight off without having to lock the engine

Wobbly Dave
Friday 14th June 2013, 11:50
I borrowed a 300 quid snap-on impact wrench to undo the crank nut on my donor engine way back last year - didn't touch it & given that I had already need of an engineering firm to remove the round off head bolts (don't ask) - I manfully gave up.


If at first you don't succeed - try, try & try again. Then give up - there's no sense in being stupid about these things

t5 pete
Friday 14th June 2013, 13:34
Do you have to remove the crank pulley on the P2s then? On my 850 there is just enough room to slip the cambelt out between the pulley and the metal cover (after a bit of cajoling it into the right position)

Took the words straight out of my mouth theres no need on the p1 and probley the same on p2 but never done one to remove the bottom pully if you look there is a thin metal cover on the under side of the pully remove that and you will have enough room to remove and refit a new belt just remember to keep every thing at TDC if your not using a cam locking tool as its easy to knock them.

graemewelch
Friday 14th June 2013, 17:06
jam a ring spanner and crank the engine. thatl break it