Timing Belt - Crankshaft Pulley Bolt

[ihateduke]

I'm doing the timing belt and water pump replacement. I've gone through about half of the work, which is taking everything apart. Now I'm at the part where I have to remove the bolt from the main crankshaft pulley. This bolt requires some serious torque to remove it and the directions say to "hold the pulley". So far this is impossible to do. Is there any trick to doing this?

I've tried to put a screwdriver through one of the holes and turn it until it gets stuck, but that isn't working. I've heard that there may be a dust cover on the flywheel that would give me a new spot to stick a screwdriver in to prevent the inside parts from turning.

Any thoughts?

[ihateduke]

I found this site with the similar issue. http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/engine/timingbelt.html

This person put a breaker bar on the bolt, let it touch the ground, then cranked up the engine real quick. That was enough to break it loose. The manual states that the bolt has 159ft/lb of torque.

Are there any better ideas than this?

[mehullica]

You can use a 18 inch or longer breaker bar with a 6 point 22mm socket on the crankshaft bolt, then tap the ignition switch. The bar will hit the lower control arm, and if the battery is in good shape, it'll break loose the crank bolt with ease.

[ihateduke]

I believe I'll try your recommendation tomorrow. In the meantime, I tried and failed at wedging something into the flywheel. It actually pulled the screwdriver in a bit and scratched a small line into the flywheel a few inches up from the actual gear teeth.

Any idea what that will mean? It's possible it's even slightly dented. For now, I'll just let this issue go, but I have this terrible feeling that when I drive it again there will be some sort of vibration.