Starter went "Kablooey!"

[The Beekeeper]

Your going to need grade 8 bolts for this job, you might try placing a washer between the puller and the crank with a little grease on either side to protect it, some times you can give the main puller bolt a rap with a hammer once it's tight to help break it loose, don't beat the thing to death..............just be patient.

 

[coffee_brake]

Grease....check.
Patience...double-check!!!

Already learned that one the hard way, you just end up breaking more stuff if you don't take your time and do it right. I'm not stressing this, I just never did it before so I'm not sure I'm doing it right. And I really appreciate the help and tips.

Still, one of the bolt heads came off and damn near took my index finger knuckle off. I hope I can use the hand tomorrow when it gets stiff.

I have another question, please: The puller is flat on one side and not flat on the other side. Which side goes towards the flywheel?

And...grade 8 is the very best, right? Has anybody found grade 8 at Lowe's, or will I have to wait for my local fastener store to open up Monday?

Again, thanks....

 

[The Beekeeper]

You want to have your bolt heads with washers on the flat side, the other side goes toward the flywheel, if you tried it the other way it may explain why you popped a head off as it would be pulled crooked as you put a lot of pressure on it, you may get away with a grade 5 bolt but I don't know if Lows even carries anything like that, I would wait and buy the good ones at a quality hardware store...................Tom.

 

[davidon]

The harmonic puller was a POS as far as my experience with it. It cracked before the flywheel budged. Got a 6 inch 12 ton 3 finger gear puller and this barely worked. I would recommend one of these if you can borrow one. No screwin around. i could loan you mine but postage back and forth would probably be more than the loan fee. Sucker is heavy.
When you take the crankbolt off just remove washer and hand screw bolt back and leave about 3-4mm of space for the flywheel to pop off ..that's all you need.

 

[one2dmax]

The video shows the very easy way to do it. Again I can't stress how much the bolts are the key. They make a grade 12 bolt but you won't likely find it (or the metric 8) at lowes. Flat side out as was noted too.

Sean

 

[coffee_brake]

I watched the video of the flywheel removal again; I don't see anything about which side of the puller goes up against the flywheel....maybe I just don't recognize what I see? That puller is not like the AutoZone one I'm using. Anyway, flat side out, I can do that.

If Sean can use a Craftsman puller, so can I. I'll use my "rental" (actually the rental price of $15 is the price of the tool new, so it must not be very good quality) till it breaks and then go get the Craftsman. But...folks have actually done this job with a $15 tool?
Without an air ratchet, I'm using my regular Craftsman socket wrench with a pipe on the handle for leverage. My mangled knuckle is not hurting at all now so I'm sure I'll be fine tomorrow. Has nothing at all to do with the wine at dinner!

Everything you folks have told me is news and new information for me. Thanks.

BTW...is this actually do-able without an air impact? I have a compressor but not the air wrench. I can really do this the hard way, with just my socket wrench and a long piece of pipe to give me leverage?

 

[The Beekeeper]

You did not say which size ratchet you are using, I would hope 1/2" drive! You should be able to complete this task without the aid of an air tool, but I would think about investing in one for future projects................

 

[coffee_brake]

Yep, 1/2" drive.

Is there anything to the electric impact drives? My compressor doesn't have much oomph. Can an electric drive do the same job?

 

[The Beekeeper]

I personally don't own one but have used them in the past, I was impresses by the performance! I would say go for it but buy a quality tool................

 

[Woody]

i've seen electric impact drives work just fine. heck i have even used a 19v cordless impact.
to remove flywheel's from atv's. Don't be in a hurry and get the good bolts. I'm sure Sean
could tell you .what a pain it will be if a bolt breaks off in the motor.bolt head popped off you got lucky.

 

[coffee_brake]

Well....no, the threads were left behind in the flywheel. It was a tense 5 minutes to oh-so-carefully grab the bit sticking out with channel-lock pliers and oh-so-slowly grip and turn....it did come on out and the threads in the flywheel are undamaged. No harm, no foul, just a sore knuckle.

I'm installing stainless clutch lines today since I can't get the better bolts till tomorrow. Finally, something I know how to do!

 

[one2dmax]

You can do it all manually and actually get more torque (depending on how strong you are) by hand. I do have a 1" impact that I never had to use (on the bike) and it's used to break off stuff to get it out of the way. I had an electric years ago when they first came out and they sucked. I understand the newer ones are much better.

The flywheel is very tough and I have never had any threads damaged on one. The bolts always give up first. When you get the flywheel off and finally pull the bolts out of the starter clutch you'll see how worn down they will be.

Sean

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Your going to need grade 8 bolts for this job, you might try placing a washer between the puller and the crank with a little grease on either side to protect it, some times you can give the main puller bolt a rap with a hammer once it's tight to help break it loose, don't beat the thing to death..............just be patient.

I put as much stress on mine as I could with the puller, then took a small propane torch which isn't capable of cutting steel, and put heat around the flywheel while trying to keep it off the crank, and continued to keep the puller as tight as I was comfortable with.

I beat on the flywheel with a DEAD BLOW (hard plastic filled with lead shot) hammer for quite a while and the damn thing still wouldn't come off.


Finally got pissed off and smacked the **** out of the centerbolt on the puller and it popped off....

BTW.... I didn't use a crows foot puller, I used one that goes around the outside and grasps it from behind with "claws"?? .....but I wouldn't recommend it since you can really **** up a flywheel if you put the claws where they can damage the magnetic pickup driver thingie bumps on the flywheel.....

 

[MaxMidnight]

Quote "Finally got pissed off and smacked the **** out of the center bolt on the puller and it popped off...."

THAT's the way to get it off. It won't come off by just tightening the centre nut!

 

[coffee_brake]

OK then I'm not the only one who feels like they're putting too much force on it...good.
I'm getting the bolts tomorrow, and now I have a nice shiny stainless clutch line to look at while I turn and turn and turn the puller bolt....

 

[coffee_brake]

This is bonkers.
I've got the best grade 8 bolts I can buy.
I'm holding the motor still by sticking a wrench in between the new bolts so that it comes around against the engine guard. Is that OK? It's not pulling the bolts sideways is it?

I've got so much torque on this thing I'm scared to stand near it and it still won't budge.

The biggest thing we've got is the splitting maul, I'm smacking the end of the puller bolt with that. Nothing.

How much pressure are you guys putting on this thing?
I've got a 4' pipe over the handle of the 1/2" drive and I'm working hard to turn it.

I'm paranoid, I have the micrometer out and I'm keeping all three legs of the puller the same distance from the flywheel.

I can't, I just can't break anything, especially the freakin crank shaft.
Am I doing something wrong? Or keep turning?

 

[coffee_brake]

I just stripped the big center bolt on the rented puller. :bang head:


Sean I checked out the Crastman puller, it didn't look any stronger than the rented one. Looked just like it. Yours in the video looks different. Here's a picture of the one I have. It looks very similar to the harmonic balancer puller at Sears.

Sean, or anybody who has sucessfully pulled the flywheel, what kind of puller do you have?

 

[davidon]

Mine is similar to the one harbor freight has but without the point

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-ton-hydraulic-gear-puller-66657.html

This will work. Once you get fed up with the other method, go get it.

 

[coffee_brake]

Well if I have to, I have to...

Was the center bolt of the puller supposed to be grade 8 too?

I did not get a new center bolt. I only got the three smaller ones that go into the flywheel threads.
The puller threads are OK, I just stripped out the big middle bolt.

Crap crap crap crap crap..

 

[The Beekeeper]

Sounds like the puller had questionable threads to begin with, did you lube the center bolt before hand? looks like that hyd gear puller would do the job but it's gonna set you back $70