Crankshaft Bolt Removal

[mtrx804]

Did a quick search of the forum/interwebz and nothing gave me a solution...

Doing a full rebuild of 1.8 I am going to swap into my 90, I cant get this bolt loose. I broke my Craftsman 1/2 inch drive ratchet trying to break it loose.
Im going to try a breaker bar, but with the effort/force I've put into it so far I wanted to get some other ideas for when/if this doesn't work.

Thoughts?

[mtrx804]

Oh, I have tried heating up the bolt as well because it was suggested other places to try that.

[lostlorin]

Impact wrench. If that does not work use a bigger impact wrench.

[mtrx804]

I guess its time to buy power tools. :S

[OZMDD]

Heating the bolt makes it bigger/tighter, not sure why that would be suggested. Works for nuts, not bolts. Impact wrench is the answer.

[mtrx804]

Ok. According to my torque sensor/checker I put more than 180ft/lb on it and it didn't budge. 120psi compressor be enough?

[chriscar]

A breaker bar will do the trick.... especially if you add a long pipe (like from a floor jack) to it for leverage.

C

[mtrx804]

I did try a cheater bar (half of a jack lever) and had no luck at all. Im going to get a breaker bar with 3/4 in drive to be sure.

[Labora]

Breaker bar + jack handle worked on the two I've taken apart the last week or two. Go longer or maybe hit with hammer/mallet to shock the bolt some.

[mtrx804]

I jumped/bounced on it to try and jolt it loose. No luck.

[lostlorin]

Impact wrench. If that does not work use a bigger impact wrench.

[Mr. Miatie]

Maybe try going tighter just to get some movement on the bolt. Not turning it so much just to budge it loose.

[mtrx804]

Its out! Breaker bar, Makers Mark(for me) , and the FM tool did it (thanks Track Dog!)

[black roadster]

Its out! Breaker bar, Makers Mark(for me) , and the FM tool did it (thanks Track Dog!)

Our pleasure Daniel. Glad you got it.

[Jiggerachi]

Glad you got it out. I had to break the massive crank bolt on a Honda Odyssey once. I had the $10 harbor freight breaker bar and stood near full weight on the end of a 5 foot cheater pipe before it broke. The sound when it broke loose left my ears ringing, this was after days of PB blaster treatment. I was shocked that HF breaker handled that kind of torque, but it took it like a champ.

The Miata crank bolt on the other hand came out all by itself on I35

[mtrx804]

Yeah there was some red locktite on it. My wife came out to make sure I was ok cause it made such a loud creak/pop.

Ahh, nothing like re-agitating that herniated disc. :)

[Dave04]

You're doing better than last time I was involved in removing a crankshaft bolt. TC and I went through 4 of these before we go the bolt off...

[altiain]

Heating the bolt makes it bigger/tighter, not sure why that would be suggested. Works for nuts, not bolts. Impact wrench is the answer.

If a fastener has been installed with a permanent thread sealer (i.e., red Loctite), this is a very common required step. We note this for R&R of numerous components on the rigs we build, including target temps.

Metal conducts heat very well. Heat will not remain isolated in the fastener.

[sammm]

^I thought the expanding and subsequent shrinking of a bolt helped in this case....thread sealer or not.

[OZMDD]

I can see that, especially for the weakening of the loctite. I was thinking of the way heat is used to expand only part of the threaded assembly, like an axle nut. If he only heated the bolt and tried to remove it immediately, then the heat wouldn't have had time to conduct into the surrounding threadlock/crank metal. Good point, Iain.