HELP with camshaft bolt?!

[grizzleebear]

I am trying to remove the bolt on the end of the crankshaft so I can replace the front seal on my 92 L. But I can not get it to budge. I have tried soaking it with penetrating oil and heating it with a propane torch, but still it won't let loose. I had it in 4th gear with someone holding down on the brake to keep the engine from turning. It does loosen counter-clockwise like normal right? Maybe I just didn't get it hot enough? You have to remove this bolt to get the sprocket of, right?
Any help would be greatly appretiated, I really need to get this back on the road cause it costs to much in gas to keep driving my pickup to work everyday!

[ejp2fast]

Yes, counter clockwise like normal. question- do you have your valve cover off? If not, i'd take it off, its not that hard. If you don't want to take it off, here is what i did.... wedge a screw driver handle between the timing belt and the cam sprocket so when you turn the cam sprocket counter clockwise to loosed the nut, the handle is "sucked" into the cam sprocket and then loosen the nut. going back to if you remove the valve cover, get a big wrench 1" 3/16..?? i think and put it on the camshaft right inside of the cam seal and turn the outside nut off.

[grizzleebear]

ejp2fast, thanks for the reply, but I just re-read my post. I am working on the CRANK shaft not the camshaft! OOPS! I edited the post accordingly.

BTW your suggestions on the camshaft are spot on, thats pretty much what I did, as I posted in my other thread.

[Bathtub Tom]

Remove spark plugs. Put socket and extension bar on crankshaft nut, making sure it will only hit something unbreakable like the ground. Operate starter......
Pick up socket and extension bar, and if the nut's not loose, repeat.

[grizzleebear]

Tom, sounds kind of brutal, but I'm willing to try anything at this point. Does the engine turn the correct direction for this (clockwise when looking at it from front)? Would a breaker bar & socket work for this too? Also, would unplugging the coil from the distributor do the same thing as removeing spark plugs?

[scottxd45]

Also, would unplugging the coil from the distributor do the same thing as removeing spark plugs?

That would keep it fromstarting also but I think another reason to remove the plugs is to eliminate the compressoin the cylinders will create and make it easierfor the engine to turn. Less resistance for the starter.

[ejp2fast]

here is what I did for the CRANK bolt.. (sorry about last post) ... i took off the cover that is right beside the oil pan that exposes the flywheel. 4 bolts (2 small and 2 big) hold this in place. remove them and then wiggle that cover off... pretty easy.. then just jam anything (screwdriver handle) into the flywheel teeth to hold it stationary... pry bolt loose. i am not sure about doing it the other way as stated above with the starter... this was the easiest for me.

[zoe60]

I took out the starter and wedged a flat prybar in the flywheel. Worked for me.

[jglutz]

A couple of coments...not to sure right now.

On the cam shaft timing sprocket...isn't there a set of wrench flats on the back side of the spocket between the sprocket and the head casting....Or...isn't there a set of flats on the cam shaft near the front seal or near the dist. Very common featur of 4 bangers.

Also...the stuck bolt is factory installed with Loctite or some other type of thread sealant...when lLoctite gets old...can be a real PITA. Heat is a great thou hard to apply without calateral (sp) damage. What I have found that works well is to use the soldering tip that comes with a Benzomatic kit...the one that looks like and old soldering iron. In this type of application I just hold the tip right on the head of the bolt and turn up the heat.

[scottxd45]

A couple of coments...not to sure right now.

On the cam shaft timing sprocket...isn't there a set of wrench flats on the back side of the spocket between the sprocket and the head casting....Or...isn't there a set of flats on the cam shaft near the front seal or near the dist. Very common featur of 4 bangers.

Also...the stuck bolt is factory installed with Loctite or some other type of thread sealant...when lLoctite gets old...can be a real PITA. Heat is a great thou hard to apply without calateral (sp) damage. What I have found that works well is to use the soldering tip that comes with a Benzomatic kit...the one that looks like and old soldering iron. In this type of application I just hold the tip right on the head of the bolt and turn up the heat.

I think he is actually trying to get the CRANK bolt loose. He just said it wrong in the title.

[grizzleebear]

Scott, yes it is the CRANK bolt I am trying to get loose. In my original post I mistakenly said camshaft, but I edited the post to correct it.

I have been suffering a bad cold for a couple days, so haven't worked on it, but I will get back at it soon. I am able to keep the crank from turning with it in gear and someone holding the brake. My problem is getting the bolt to break loose. I was pull so hard on the breaker bar I was afraid I was going to break something inside the engine or tranny. Maybe just need to heat the bolt longer? I am willing to try Tom's method but I would like to know if anyone else has done this?

[scottxd45]

I've never done that but I've heard it said more than once on here. I think it kind of a common way to do it by people on here.

[scitzz]

Put a piece of pipe over your breaker bar to get some more torque, and just pull as much as you can!

[Bathtub Tom]

Tom says:
I've done this many times. An old mechanic taught me it, and I've never knowingly done any damage. It puts a shock stress on the parts you're trying to separate through the parts designed to take the load. The designer never figured you'd wedge a lump of steel in the flywheel ring gear!

[Jman]

Another method my dad (Heavy Duty Mechanic for CAT) taught me is to pull plugs and take one cylinder to dead bottom and fill cylinder with 1/4" rope till you cant stuff anymore in the hole (make sure to keep some out of the plug hole so you can pull it back out ). Then when you goto remove bolt the piston will come up the cylinder and stop against all the rope allowing you to rmove the bolt. Use a breaker bar and couple feet of pipe over it for leverage.