Huh, well I just removed the big bolt very easily with an air impact, but I do not have any bolts holding the pulley on my balancer... nothing. Just a rubber looking seal all the way arounnd it. Is it pressed on there? It is a 2000 5.9.

Well, i supose I will head back out and see if I can use the puller to take it off... just dont want to break anything

 

olyelr, it takes a three jaw puller. I just did mine over the weekend. You just have the one big bolt holding it on which is 1 1/4 socket. pull from the enter lip by the bolt threads.

 

Yep, thanks. I pulled it all off at once (pulley and balancer seem to be one unit on mine) with the 3 jaw puller... went like butter. I left the bolt threaded in partially and screwed the puller bolt on that. Worked great.

 

New to the site, but I too am in the middle of changing my water pump on my 1999 Dodge Dakota R/T. Lots of good info here for me to use. Other than the pump, gasket, timing cover gasket, timing chain, radiator hoses, pump to engine hose, o-ring and maybe an oil pan gasket, anything else I need to change out? I don't want to do a complete engine rebuild or many performance mods (trying to conserve some cash), but I'm willing to change what's necessary and makes sense.

 

Might as well do the Hughes or APS intake pan gasket repair kit too while you got the front half off. Thats what I did when I replaced my water pump.

 

FYI, you shouldn't use an impact or air wrench on this bolt. It is threaded directly into the crankshaft and the vibrations of an impact or air wrench can damage the crank bearings. It should be loosened with a breaker bar.

 

Well, I'm one step closer to having this massive job done. I got the clutch fan off the old water pump with a big crescent and (thanks to one of the tips I read on here) a strap wrench around the w.p. pulley. Now for the harmonic balancer. Mine had the removable crank pulley (leaving just the balancer). I'm paying careful attention to all the tips here. I hope I can get this off relatively easy.

 

Do not tug on the outer ring of the balancer. If you do, you'll ruin the rubber inner ring that absorbs the crank vibrations. I believe the 5.9s used a 3 jaw puller. My 5.2 uses the same puller you use on a steering wheel.

 

Assuming I'm successful in removing this, what's the best way to re-install it? The puller sets I've seen don't seem to have something to put it back on with.

 

to reinstall the balancer you simply put a light coat of oil or antiseize on the surfaces, line it up with the keyway and get it started. then tap it with a hammer and block of wood. when you get it all the way, or most of the way, put in the big crank bolt and torque the hell out of it. about 135# or something similar.

i haven't read this whole thread, but if you've got timing cover off, be sure and replace the front oil seal.