HELP, stripped crank pulley bolt head
12-30-06, 06:03 PM
#1
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HELP, stripped crank pulley bolt head
so i take my SC300 into a mechanic for a new timing belt. after a few hours i come back and see my SC on the lift. and the crank pulley bolt has a stripped head. the mechanic said who ever did the belt last, put the bolt back on, too tight. i think he used crappy tools and fubar'd the bolt head. 
any ideas what i should do now? he tried everything including heating it up with a torch and no luck. cant get the thing off.
any ideas what i should do now? he tried everything including heating it up with a torch and no luck. cant get the thing off.
12-30-06, 06:08 PM
#2
so i take my SC300 into a mechanic for a new timing belt. after a few hours i come back and see my SC on the lift. and the crank pulley bolt has a stripped head. the mechanic said who ever did the belt last, put the bolt back on, too tight. i think he used crappy tools and fubar'd the bolt head. any ideas what i should do now? he tried everything including heating it up with a torch and no luck. cant get the thing off.
any ideas what i should do now? he tried everything including heating it up with a torch and no luck. cant get the thing off.1. stripped bolt remover - sears sells them, as well as many other places, you tap this on the stripped head of the bolt, and use an impact to remove... works 9 times out of 10 with a little effort....
2. cut the head of the bolt off - once you do this, pull the crank pulley off, and use some vise grips to remove the rest of the bolt...
3. use a dremel to resize the crank pulley - I don't know the size of it stock, but if it was 19mm, use a dremel to cut it down to a tight 17mm, pound a 17mm socket on it, and it should come off with a strong impact wrench...
4. if you've made it this far, I feel for you... those are the only things I can think of right now
12-30-06, 07:53 PM
#3
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so i take my SC300 into a mechanic for a new timing belt. after a few hours i come back and see my SC on the lift. and the crank pulley bolt has a stripped head. the mechanic said who ever did the belt last, put the bolt back on, too tight. i think he used crappy tools and fubar'd the bolt head. any ideas what i should do now? he tried everything including heating it up with a torch and no luck. cant get the thing off.
any ideas what i should do now? he tried everything including heating it up with a torch and no luck. cant get the thing off.Not sure what "too tight" is but tq specs are 239ft/lb. So yeah they can be a pita to get off. Best bet is the stripped bolt remover.
12-30-06, 10:06 PM
#4
Lexus Test Driver
I would think using a dremel on a super hardened steel bolt 1.5" in diameter would be a bit out of the dremels league.....
I've seen a mechanic actually take a large punch about 1" in diameter (large) and about 18" long with a 5 lb hammer and set the edge of the punch on the rotating side of the bolt head so when you hit it it would spin it the right direction, and though I was skeptical of this working it worked, to my surprise.
I'd still be worried about damaging the bolt too much doing that though.
Heating it would tighten the bolt in place, icing it would loosen it....
Grinding it to fit the next size down socket seems to be a good idea--
It is possible to just cut the bolt head off with a mm or so left of it so you could turn it -- once you remove that much material it should turn easily by hitting it with a punch or maybe by hand--
I've seen a mechanic actually take a large punch about 1" in diameter (large) and about 18" long with a 5 lb hammer and set the edge of the punch on the rotating side of the bolt head so when you hit it it would spin it the right direction, and though I was skeptical of this working it worked, to my surprise.
I'd still be worried about damaging the bolt too much doing that though.
Heating it would tighten the bolt in place, icing it would loosen it....
Grinding it to fit the next size down socket seems to be a good idea--
It is possible to just cut the bolt head off with a mm or so left of it so you could turn it -- once you remove that much material it should turn easily by hitting it with a punch or maybe by hand--
12-30-06, 10:30 PM
#6
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Any possibility of getting something like a pipe wrench on the bolt head? These squeeze the bolt, instead of the face/corners. If you can then you will need a long pipe to get leverage.
I messed up a nut once and was able to tighten it (the torque to tighten goes to the other corner). A few months later when I had a need to take it off, was I pissed at my self. Luckily there was enough clearence to get the pipe wrench on it.
If the stripped corner are bright, then the stripping happened recently. For an old strip, one sees rust in creases.
I have seen a mechanic use a blunt chisel with 5lb hammer to apply torque to twist a bolt open. It did make the bolt look worse but eventually did budge it by quarter of a turn.
last of all, I hope you dont get to watch the mechanic tackle this. The sight can be pretty grizzley.
Salim
I messed up a nut once and was able to tighten it (the torque to tighten goes to the other corner). A few months later when I had a need to take it off, was I pissed at my self. Luckily there was enough clearence to get the pipe wrench on it.
If the stripped corner are bright, then the stripping happened recently. For an old strip, one sees rust in creases.
I have seen a mechanic use a blunt chisel with 5lb hammer to apply torque to twist a bolt open. It did make the bolt look worse but eventually did budge it by quarter of a turn.
last of all, I hope you dont get to watch the mechanic tackle this. The sight can be pretty grizzley.
Salim
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12-31-06, 12:53 AM
#8
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I would be scared to grind off the bolt head, just knowing that it would just be a hunk of straight metal sticking out of the crunk.
I say best bet is shoot a can of PB blaster on it, and get another nut welded on.
I still dont understand how you could mangle this bolt, generally crank bolts are a extremely high grade bolt.
12-31-06, 06:43 AM
#10
Any possibility of getting something like a pipe wrench on the bolt head? These squeeze the bolt, instead of the face/corners. If you can then you will need a long pipe to get leverage.
I messed up a nut once and was able to tighten it (the torque to tighten goes to the other corner). A few months later when I had a need to take it off, was I pissed at my self. Luckily there was enough clearence to get the pipe wrench on it.
If the stripped corner are bright, then the stripping happened recently. For an old strip, one sees rust in creases.
I have seen a mechanic use a blunt chisel with 5lb hammer to apply torque to twist a bolt open. It did make the bolt look worse but eventually did budge it by quarter of a turn.
last of all, I hope you dont get to watch the mechanic tackle this. The sight can be pretty grizzley.
Salim
I messed up a nut once and was able to tighten it (the torque to tighten goes to the other corner). A few months later when I had a need to take it off, was I pissed at my self. Luckily there was enough clearence to get the pipe wrench on it.
If the stripped corner are bright, then the stripping happened recently. For an old strip, one sees rust in creases.
I have seen a mechanic use a blunt chisel with 5lb hammer to apply torque to twist a bolt open. It did make the bolt look worse but eventually did budge it by quarter of a turn.
last of all, I hope you dont get to watch the mechanic tackle this. The sight can be pretty grizzley.
Salim
+1 for the pipe wrench....a very large one. They grip very well and no welding or grinding required.
gadgetSC
01-01-07, 10:27 PM
#13
I wouldn't recommend this... this is the crank of a car we are talking about... the ends of it aren't meant to be side loaded, and I would stay away from hitting it straight on with a lot of force too... either or both could cause damage to the bearings or, the thrust bearing... (the thrust being the important one - too much wear or damage to it could potentially cause the crank to walk)
01-02-07, 02:01 AM
#14
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I wouldn't recommend this... this is the crank of a car we are talking about... the ends of it aren't meant to be side loaded, and I would stay away from hitting it straight on with a lot of force too... either or both could cause damage to the bearings or, the thrust bearing... (the thrust being the important one - too much wear or damage to it could potentially cause the crank to walk)
