Crankshaft pulley bolt removal and the harmonic balancer

I have a 2003 Tacoma 2.7 liter. I have 3 drive belt pulleys on the crankshaft. The most rear one had the harmonic balancer built into it. The pulley part of it came off and broke loose. I have to get the crankshaft pulley bolt out. Mine has an automatic transmission so I cant put it in gear and break the bolt loose with a breaker bar. I have to do it different. I am thinking of doing the breaker bar thing where I put a braker bar on it and then resting the end of the bar on my frame and then bump the starter. Any of you guys confirm that this works ? If so tell me more about it. Plus I would like to know if the first two pulleys come off without having to take the crankshaft bolt out ? I did take out the 4 small bolts. Any help is really appreciated .

 

I have done it on a 7M-GTE Engine as a last resort when a balancer came apart on someone on the highway, and it did work. Wouldn't be my first choice of action though

 

I would be afraid that it might slip on the head and round off the shoulders. You wouldn't know that your slipping and should stop, then what would you do????

 

If you use a good quality impact socket I would be a lot less worried about that than I would be it snapping the bolt itself

 

I have no room to get an impact wrench or air wrench in there.

 

I did it on my 3.4. Just bump the starter and it works. Was worried about it before doing it but really it went smoothly.

 

Thanks so much. I'm gonna try to do it in a few hours. My breaker bar may not be long enough. I do have a old heavy pipe that I normally put over the breaker bar to make it longer but I may think I'll go out and get a longer breaker bar so I wont have any slack in it.

 

Do I need to use a new crankshaft bolt ? I hear yes and no .

 

I didn't and it's still in there 2yrs later

 

Buy a new one at the dealer for five bucks, torque it down, and be done with it.

 

What's a good way to disable the ignition so I can bump start the engine without it starting ? I'd do it myself but I need to watch the status of the wrench and my wife has no idea on what I'm doing nor how to turn the key quick enough .

 

Could take the spark plug boots off the plugs

 

Does anyone know if the other two pulleys in front of the rear one will come off while the crankshaft bolt is still in place ? I have taken off the 4 small bolts and the two front pulleys are still tight on there and won't come loose

 

Ok cool. Do you know if the 2 front pulleys will come off with the crankshaft bolt still in ? I took out the 4 small bolts and the 2 pulleys still are on there tight.
Also , do I need to put the harmonic balancer back on in any certain way ? Like for instance , putting the half-moon key or pin in a certain spot or just anywhere in the small channel ?

 

Ok I just the crankshaft bolt and puleyy off . Thank God ! I can barely see the woodruff key or whatever you call that half moon key or pin . It look great but I'm scared if I take it out I may not get the new one in. It way far back in that hole . Is it used to drive anything else other than the pulley ?

 

Do you guys think I should replace the crankshaft oil seal while I am there ? They are only $8 and doesn't look too hard to replace . I think they just press inward with a large socket and a hammer .

 

It's harder getting the old seal out than putting the new one in, but it would be a good idea to replace it now when everything is apart.

The wooduff key doesn't drive the pulley. It is just used to locate the pulley on the crankshaft to align the small notch timing mark on the pulley if you ever need to manually check the ignition timing with a timing light or need to set the engine to top-dead-center (TDC). The bolt (when properly torqued) is what holds the pulley to the crankshaft. In short, there's no need to replace the key as long as it will locate the pulley on the crank correctly.

 

thanks so much for that information. I am so paranoid and trying to get this correct. I hate working with something like this that to me is extremely important parts. I don't want my stuff to fly off and eat up other parts .

 

After you torque the bolt you can mark the bolt and harmonic balancer with paint, then check it frequently to be sure the bolt isn't coming loose. If the alignment of the paint marks changes, then you know the bolt is loosening. After a few thousand miles you can probably be sure it's not going to loosen. If it's torqued to spec it shouldn't loosen. You may need a small mirror or camera to check the paint marks.

 

Ok , I just got my crankshaft pulley holder made. When I was buying the bolts , I was at a specialty store that handle only bolts and fasteners. The guy asked me how much torque I was gonna use. I said between 193 and 217 Ft. Lbs . He said that was way too much. I said that was what is needed. I even went by Toyota and they showed 193 Ft. Lbs on the 2.7 which is my engine , and 217 Ft Lbs on the 3.4 V-6 . The bolt guy said that would break the bolt. He said that only around 50 lbs or so was only needed and that I got Ft Lbs and inch Lbs mixed up. WOW . I just smiled and said thanks and went on.
Here is the tool I made and I give a big thanks to DrZ for the idea .