Crank pulley / harmonic balancer / Jesus bolt removal

[andrewwynn]

Very important: remove locking pin before Jesus bolt removal (I had to rebuild mine after making that mistake).

You can build a perfect holding tool from some angle or box material.



$7 in angle iron and half an hour to fabricate.

For removal I rested the tool against the inside of the fender. I put a stack of shims in the "gutter" where the hood nestles.

For installing I used a scale and some math.



I had something like 28" handles, used my scale and my 5:1 pulley system to precisely measure I think I used 350 ft·lb. It's technically supposed to be yield torqued xx ft·lb plus xx degrees.

I searched long and far for a reasonable ft·lb value and based on the torque specs for that size of bolt and some cars that were spec'd by torque 350 was a very good value.

I could feel the bolt starting to yield right around 340-360 and I felt very confident in a good solution.


If you had a spare balancer it would be very easy to make a holding tool by cutting holes or notches and use a bar to reach over to the frame or engine. (BMW tool rests on the engine with a block of wood to protect it)