I have the OTC pulley holder and for the life of me I can't release the crank nut. Every time it gets so torqued that the pulley holder flies out of the holes, and it's held under the frame. I've seen the DIY tools but if I already have a made tool, something else must be missing. I've oiled it too. Any other tricks?

Step 1. Remove radiator
Step 2. Get out the best impact gun you can get your hands on
Step 3. Don't use that otc holder and crank that S.O.B. off!

Are you turning it the right way?

I built my own pulley holder with Some flat steel bar and some grade 8 bolts.

The other way is to pin your breaker bar against the frame and then bump the starter.

If you don't have an impact I second diesels idea of breaker bar and bumping starter.

Which otc pulley holder are you using. I have used the Schley harmonic balancer holder and it works great. You need a really long breaker bar in order to get the leverage needed.

Amazon.com: Schley Products SP 64400 Harmonic Damper Pulley Holding Tool: Automotive

using this one

Amazon.com: OTC 4754 Universal Pulley Holder: Automotive

I got it for the cam pulleys. Has an array of pins. It fits nicely in the crank pulley holes.

And yes, turning CCW with the breaker bar. It's 217 ft lbs and I'm easily pushing with more than that. I have a cordless impact but I wasn't sure if that would have enough juice. As for bumping, we're past that point. So many things are off that this car ain't starting up until I'm done. I'm doing the HG and timing belt, so I have a bunch of stuff off already to get to this point.

On the 96 I needed to run my air compressor up to 150+ psi to get the bolt off. And it still wasn’t right away.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Get a 16” 1/2” breaker bar, get some pipe to cover said breaker bar, lie such against the driver’s frame rail and bump the starter. Should be good to go.

For this I made a custom tool and when I removed the bolt it took so much torque that it bent the set of bolts, when I torqued my new bolt I almost went through two sets of bolts with my custom tool. what I suggest is making a tool if you want to still have an otc tool after this is all said and done lol. The only way to get this done is to put your tool or custom tool under the frame and get a half inch drive, long breaker bar from harbor freight if you don't have one, put your 19MM socket on it, put a cheater bar on the breaker bar to give you some additional leverage and then dont hesitate, just break her loose. Good luck getting an impact in there, unless you have an impact rated at double the torque that bolt is torqued at youre not going to get it off because this has loctite. My factory bolt from toyota had loctite and I added more so my bolt never backed out ( it never did ). The only thing that will aid you in getting this off is heat. If you heat that bolt up it will destroy the loctite bond and make it far easier to remove said bolt.

Starter bump method, I've done it, it works great.

what are you guys doin to prevent the motor from starting when bumping the starter? unplug the coils?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

You can unplug the coils or pull the Efi relay.

I still can't get this damned thing off. Someone said they'd let me borrow their impact, but they haven't come through. I bought an impact wrench capable of 550 ft lbs, no dice. He told em try bumping it. Mind you most of the top end has already been disassembled as I tried to get things done while waiting for his impact gun. I tried this bump method but I must have too much disconnected to even do anything. I just heard a brief spurt (like an electrical short) and nothing happened. I really don't want to reassemble everything which took me hours only to disassemble it again.

I tried torching the bolt to cause some change. Nothing. I tried taking the impact to tighten it, then loosen it. Nothing.

I just ordered another pulley holder tool (schley one) to see if that one's better at all. Seems like no matter what I do with the OTC holder, if I'm torquing it with the bar manually it eventually causes the holder tool to twist and fly out of the holes.

After messing with it all this time, I have no idea if it's even close to TDC now. I'm at a loss. I've been cursing and banging things! I took 3 days off starting tomorrow in hopes I'd be running these heads to the machine shop.

The OTC holder is too light duty for crank bolt, Schley is what I used. Schley holder breaker bar cheater pipe against bottom of driver side frame rail. Socket & breaker bar on bolt head, braced my feet against right tire did a dead lift laying on floor broke mine loose. Counterclock wise to loosen.
You can find TDC again when you get bolt broke loose.

Run your air impact with the regulator fully open, that will give you a boost and oil the air tool. I don't remember if I used air or electric to bust my crank bolt loose. I'm pretty sure it was my 10+ year old Matco 1/2 @800 ft/lbs removal torque air gun.

Also, I've made a custom tool too, flat bar drilled and notched for the crank bolt socket to clear. I used a ship ton of washers behind the bolts tightened down to prevent the bolts from folding. Hopefully it doesn't have red loctite on it.