I'm having a hard time trying to loosen the balancer bolt on my 77 350 motor. It is on a stand, heads and intake off, and I have even gone as far as putting a 4' pipe on my breaker bar, but I can't give it a full yank because it just want to tip the stand over. The motor has been appart before I ever got it and think I am in deep doodoo if someone put loctite on the bolt. Any suggestions on how to loosen the dang thing?

 

1/2 drive air gun will remove it

 

That was the first thing I tried! I cranked it up to about 110lbs at the gun and nothing. I even tried hitting it in both directions hoping I could shock it free.

 

If you don't have air, maybe an electric impact. Never mind, I type slowly.

 

Try a bigger impact. 110 is enough to get lug nuts off. Next step is propane or acetylene. Should be able to heat it up locally without damaging the rubber ring on the balancer

 

Take it off the stand and lower on something with support. Then break it loose.

 

I typically have my shop air set at 90psi and don't usually have any problems breaking lug nuts(or just about any other nuts/bolts) loose. On the rare occasion I do, I jack it up to 110psi and it works fine.

 

I might just set it back in the frame and do just that!

 

Or you can lay it on an old tire.

 

Not a big deal to set it in the frame, it's pretty open!

 

Is that a Corvette front clip? If someone put locktight on the bolt it may need some heat to loosen it up.

 

Yup.

It's going to take a lot of heat to get all the way to the threads. It's a good thing I have an oxy acetylene torch!

 

We did the same thing to a 67 Vette frame with the addition of using the late model back half also. Nice work!

 

I actually looked at using a vette rear suspension, but didn't want to narrow the rear frame to do it.

 

What is this going in?

 

<------This

It's my 47 Model 66 Coupe

 

Cool, why not start a build thread, I'm sure there would be plenty of interest.

 

I plan to, I just want to get a little more done first. Plus get some more pictures. I do have a little bit about it in the vintage Olds section, in the "1946 1947 and 1948 How many own them?" thread: https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...-own-them.html

 

i use a breaker bar and a large hammer . give it a good wack but be careful to hit it square or it will jump off and hit you where the sun don't shine

 

If you can secure the motor, place your breaker bar again the frame or floor and bump the engine with the starter. That usually does it.

Randy

 

Ummm... that's not gonna happen!

 

I'm going to have to go over to that forum more often, some nice stuff going on over there.

 

Yes there is! It took me forever to find this place. For some reason this site never came up in any of my searches. It wasn't until I was searching out how to decipher my engine number that it came up. I am beyond happy I found it!!

There are some incredibly smart people here.

 

Make a crank holding tool.

 

Is 110 pounds on the gun the air pressure or the torque? The bolt is supposed to be very tight, 160 lb. ft. minimum.

 

The 110lbs is the air pressure at the gun. I can run the compressor up to about 150 or so before it shuts off, so I tried bypassing the air regulator and running my impact gun right from the compressor at 150 psi and it still wouldn't budge.

 

Yeah, I have an old head bolt going through the flexplate and wedged against the block and the engine stand. The crank isn't moving at all, it's just when I put too much pull on the breaker bar(with a pipe on it) it just wants to tip the stand. I am going to mount the engine in my frame and I'll be able to get more pull on it. Maybe tomorrow, we'll see how my day goes. I spent a good amount of time in the garage today because it rained all day!

 

Try whacking the bolt head with a big hammer then having another go. I've shifted some big fasteners out on breakdowns that way.

Roger.

 

Will do. I soaked it in WD40 yesterday and I'm hoping that it helps me out today.

 

I had the same issue with my engine on a stand. Impact gun, heat, hammer, nothing would break that bolt. I wound up going down to the local hardware store and bought some cheesy china brand electric impact gun that wasn't your typical gun. It kinda "spooled up" for a few seconds then gave you one powerful "WHAM!" then started spinning up again. It's actually 12v powered too believe it or not. I was VERY skeptical it would work but for $20, why not. Worked great. It would take forever to do something that needs a lot of turning, but to break something free, I've seen nothing more powerful. I'll see if I can find a link. I'd tell you the brand and store, but I'm in Japan so it probably wouldn't help much. I'm sure the States has got to have something similar.

 

Success! I sprayed it up good yesterday, let it sit overnight, then went at it again today. First I tried the impact gun at 150psi with no luck, then put the 4' pipe on my breaker bar and gave it a good pull and it let go. Never had one fight me so hard! Thanks for all the help, guys!

 

Excellent news, lets hope that's the only problem you have.
Thanks for letting us know btw.

Roger.

 

Oh man, if this is the only problem I encounter during this build I will be thrilled!

 

Sometimes an impact gun don't work. I couldn't get a lug nut off on a Mack truck while I was using an 1" impact gun with 175 psi. So I use a 3/4" ratchet with a 5" pipe and it broke free because I use leverage. Impact gun don't have leverage.

 

Sorry I am late to this party.
Next time, tighten it, then loosen.
Impact or breaker bar, either one.
It works.

 

Yup, that's exactly what I did...for 2 days straight! That didn't work, so I oiled it up good with WD40 and let it sit overnight, then the next day I whacked it good a few times with my biggest ballpean hammer and hit it a few more times with the impact, then put the 4' pipe on my breaker bar and that got it.

 

I've actually heated up the bolt head on cranks, the makes the bolt longer & relieves the tension enough to unscrew it.

 

Makes sense, the heat was coming out next if I didn't get it with the oil and breaker bar!

 

The reason I said to make a crank holding tool is that you can pull up on the holder while pushing down on the breaker bar, so the engine wouldn't topple over on to the ground. They really help when the engine is in the car too.

 

Ah, OK, I got ya now. I thought you were just talking about something to immobilize the crank so it wouldn't spin while I was pulling on the breaker bar.