hey guys and gals I'm getting prepared for this weekend of water pump and timing chain I have the chain and all that double roller no cam though I have a three jaw puller if needed for chain I'm wondering about what to retorque the crank bolt to and how to turn the motor over easily without doing alot of work I was thinking a chain wrench and a healthy amount of duct tape on the pulley to bring it to TDC any ideas would be appreciated I really don't wanna break the bolt

 

You can put a 1-1/4" socket on the crank bolt and turn the crank with a ratchet and short extension. If you have removed the crank bolt and pulleys, you can turn the crank with a pair of vice grips. You aren't going to break the crank bolt just by using it to turn the engine, as long as the engine turns normally and nothing is broken internally.

 

Ive watched people snap the heads right off with a breaker bar and a socket right on the bolt

 

Pull the balancer, leave the woodruff key in the crank snout, put a big crescent wrench on it, and use that to turn the crank. No danger of breaking the bolt. Packer is correct, it is eminently possible to snap the bolt head right off.

 

Interesting. I've never encountered an issue with it before. Perhaps this is more of an issue in areas where rust/corrosion is more prevalent?

 

I'm in the rust belt and used the crank bolt. So I would say it is uncommon

 

I've broke one before....... I am sure the look of surprise on my face was quite astounding. I wasn't even wrenching on it that hard. Don't know if the bolt already had issues, or what, but, that was the last time I used the crank bolt to turn the crank.

 

WOW! Thanks for sharing that experience.

After my 1st encounter with a vehicle from the rust belt area many years ago, I'm not surprised by the issues that rust/corrosion cause. I thought I was going to perform a simple front strut replacement job on an early '80s Honda and encountered numerous rust seized parts that required replacement and made what I thought was a simple job into a painful ordeal.

 

That's one of the main reasons I got out of the wrench turnin' business for a living. We worked on mostly older cars, (we weren't the dealership, after all) and being in michigan..... rust is a major factor, and broken bolts are par for the course. When it got to the point that even a simple job turned into a major struggle, just because of corrosion, I understood is was time for me to do something else with my life. (that, and screwing up my back working on my own truck, in my own garage, and giving up walking for about 3 months......) I still deal with this on my own vehicles, and it's gotten to the point where I am actually willing to pay SOMEONE ELSE to deal with it...... My health ain't the best though either...... and I find I can do less and less as time passes. It sucks, but, there it is. I still have a smile on my face, and still enjoy living my life, so, don't take that as complainin'.

Here is some complaining though. I woke up this morning to snow on the ground, and its STILL snowing.

 

No snow will lay here....yet. the only issue I had working on older vehicles her in the rust belt was my 01 Ram. When putting the lift kit on I had to cut every control arm bolt and even the rear upper shock bolts. No big deal got them replaced at the local hardware store. Cam bolts I paid $48 at advance and the washers aren't big enough so I can't adjust my axle (which I think is causing my shaking at 45 and above but it could be a tire out of balance). I finally invested in a heat induction tool, which should stop that problem.
Here is the link for anyone who is curious:
https://www.amazon.com/Bolt-Buster-BB2-ACC-Handheld-Induction/dp/B00ATSL7VE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1513085735&sr=8-1&keywords=bolt+buster&linkCode=sl1&tag=chri0e2-20&linkId=cb12909e3246443239c7594fb8365937