Removing or torquing down pulley bolt?

[j_dirge]

How to get adequate torque on the main pulley bolt on the 2.1 WBXer with engine and trans installed?

Bentley shows a nifty VW pinned tool that locks the pulley against the engine mount. I doubt I'll be able to get my hands on one.
Without it I have only been able to torque to about 120-140lbs.. tires blocked trans in 4th.. not "best practices" for sure.
Bentley says ~250lbs.

Any ideas?
_________________
-89 GL Westy, SVX.. finally.

-57 pan f/g buggy with a 67 pancake Type 3 "S"
"Jimi Hendrix owned one. Richard Nixon did not"
-Grand Tour, Season 1, episodes 4 and 5

[j_dirge]

Found this:

[Summers420us]

Interesting... My buddy is attempting the same soon. His pulley wobbles, we suspect it has been improperly installed on the crank or the key is shot. We have replacement pulley, key aned seal and want to attempt with motor in.

Let us know how you do with this.

Also, why did you have the pulley off to begin with?
_________________
1997 EVC
1988 2WD Westfalia with OE 2.1 (R.I.P.)

[MarkWard]

[j_dirge]

Pulley was loose.. Its a used WBXer I swapped in for the grenaded WBXer I had prior (see my tag line).
I did not check the pulley before swap installation, assuming it had not been touched.. I happened to find out when I was rotating the crank to TDC and it gave way. (inadvertently left van in gear)

There is indeed a hole in flywheel. You can see it thru hole in the case casting.. viewable from the engine bay.. left side of case... between thermostat housing and throttle control.

However, there is no offsetting hole to lock to in the bellhousing casting thru that view port.. (I checked a spare transmission I have in the garage.

For a work around solution, I used a large heavy-duty allen wrench thru the flywheel.. and eased it up against the hole's edge in the case.. then torqued the bolt down against the allen wrench.
This method comes up short in that the flex of the motor mounts is enough to dampen the leverage to get the bolt in there much more than 200ish lbs.
(Hard to say since its estimated)

I used a pipe extension on 24" breaker bar... and it should be at least 200lbs.. given calcs. (My torque wrench maxes out at 150... and I easily exceeded that with bolt still turning a bit on "oomphs").


I have my old WBXer.. And I checked the casting area for signs of it being used in this fashion..
I believe it was. It shows a nick and and a slight deformation there at the view port.
I had a local garage replace the main oil seal in previous WBXer once.. and they must have removed the pulley to replace the seal.
They certainly did not have the nifty VW tool for doing this job.

I can post pics of the "method" if interest is there. Just be kind if it fails the "best practices" standard of The Samba..
_________________
-89 GL Westy, SVX.. finally.

-57 pan f/g buggy with a 67 pancake Type 3 "S"
"Jimi Hendrix owned one. Richard Nixon did not"
-Grand Tour, Season 1, episodes 4 and 5

[MarkWard]

A result. A picture is worth a thousand words. Don't worry about the naysayers.

[j_dirge]

[Wildthings]

You could probably just have someone put their foot on the brake while you torqued the bolt.

[xoo00oox]

That quote was from me.


Yes, this flywheel pin method works very well. Having someone hold the brake with the car in gear also works but you can run out of room to move your breaker bar because you have to fight against slop in all the moving parts from the flywheel to the wheels and you need another person to do it.


Andrew-

[Wildthings]

[insyncro]

Change your fuel lines.

[j_dirge]

[stevey88]

I built this bar using leftover of a garage door pull bar.

To use it, the muffler and the heat shield must be off so it can be slide into the engine mount hole ( bolt removed ) and the hole in the pulley - Bentley page 13.42.

_________________
Steve

87 Westfalia full camper 4 speed

[wecm31]

[Vagabond Mechanist]

I would not trust holding the flywheel end of the crankshaft to remove or torque the pulley nut. There is a reason VW designed a tool to lock the pulley. The amount of torque you are generating through the crank is more than the engine produces. The crankshaft is designed to deliver rotational energy but not have torque delivered through its length. By holding the opposite end you are asking the crank to handle forces that it wasn't designed to handle because of the throws.

There is a 2-pin VW tool that is used to hold the cam sprocket on the TDI motors. I want to design and build a 2-pin tool that can engage the pulley and has a long-ass handle to fight.

[insyncro]

The above mention of the crank should be respected.

I have no issue spinning the bolt right out via the license plate door with my 1/2" Snappy impact gun, socket and wobble extension.
Torqueing it I use the factory locking tool, but reverse engineered, made locally and my digital 1/2" wrench.

[Wildthings]

I personally can't imagine that amount of torque hurting the crank. The crank normally sees much higher torque impulses than the engine's rated output. The rated output is only an average that is well modulated by the weight of the crank, rods, and flywheel. The Go Westy 2500cc engine is rated at 175 ft*lbs of torque so it is going to be seeing a higher torque impulse on every revolution than what is required to torque the pulley bolt.

Another way people could lock the pulley in place would be to use some 3/8" - 1/2" rope, tie it off to the alternator bracket and then wrap the pulley a few times. Shouldn't take much force on the free end of the rope to keep the pulley from turning.

[insyncro]

I dont know, but at my shop we go out of our way for cranks.

I just restored a 1974 Ski Doo 440 TN'T Everest
I wish the last "mechanic" spared the crank