Crank Pulley Removal

[rossocorsa]

Vx has normal thread not sure about ie

[mangocrazy]

I'll certainly give the nut a go with an air gun, although I suspect mine (being cheap) might be a bit lacking in torque. It certainly struggled (i.e. didn't) remove the nut from my old seized engine. Probably the excuse I need to buy a decent one....

The crank nut on my ie motor is definitely a nut (not a bolt) and looks identical to the one on the carb (seized) engine. Is there any way of telling if the nut is a LH thread? The nightmare scenario would be stripping the crank thread by tightening rather than loosening the nut.

I've already given the nut plenty of heat courtesy of two MAPP gas torches used in tandem.

[peteracs]

Is it not possible to see the direction of the thread at the end of the crank to work out which way it goes?

Peter

[rossocorsa]

I think it will be conventional don't worry you'll not strip the thread. I use a small Ingersoll rand air impact really good and not overly expensive, before that I had a misc Chinese one and it was hopeless

This one

http://www.ingersollrandproducts.com/am-en/products/tools/impactools/maintenance-automotive-impactools/1-2-drive/236

[mangocrazy]

Is it not possible to see the direction of the thread at the end of the crank to work out which way it goes?

Peter

The nut is flush with the end of the thread, so not really possible. It's one of the double pulleys with the extra drive for the power steering pump, if that makes any difference.

[mangocrazy]

Hi rossocorsa, I've just ordered an air gun with a reverse Nm rating of 1350, so if that doesn't get it off, I'm really in trouble...

[millieman]

Beware, i sheared the head off a vx crankshaft BOLT with a nut gun due to it being a left hand thread.

[mangocrazy]

So are we saying that if the crank pulley is held on with a nut, that the thread is a 'normal' RH thread, but if the crank pulley is held on with a bolt, that the thread is LH thread? From what's been said so far, that's how it appears.

[HFStuart]

Correct.

[lukasdeopalenica]

I had two engines with a bolt tightened crank pulley and both where LHT.
Early DOHC engines have nuts, then FIAT switched to bolts. I cannot see their motivation why they came to nuts in the last series?

[mangocrazy]

I had two engines with a bolt tightened crank pulley and both where LHT.
Early DOHC engines have nuts, then FIAT switched to bolts. I cannot see their motivation why they came to nuts in the last series?

Perhaps because too many people were shearing off the LHT bolts?   

But as long as it's clear that Nut = RH thread and Bolt = LH thread then it's a minor annoyance at most.

[lukasdeopalenica]

Probably, but using of LHT had also an advantage - selftightening effect.

[mangocrazy]

Probably, but using of LHT had also an advantage - selftightening effect.

Yes, I agree. I can certainly understand the benefits of that from an engineering point of view. But to change specification in the middle of a production run, and then to change back again later on, is really not helpful.

But quintessentially Italian... 

[Neil-yaj396]

I had two engines with a bolt tightened crank pulley and both where LHT.
Early DOHC engines have nuts, then FIAT switched to bolts. I cannot see their motivation why they came to nuts in the last series?

Perhaps because too many people were shearing off the LHT bolts?   

But as long as it's clear that Nut = RH thread and Bolt = LH thread then it's a minor annoyance at most.

When you refer to RH/LH you mean the direction of tightening? I find this a bit confusing, standard/reverse is clearer, ie you always untighten a standard thread by turning it anti-clockwise, or to the left.

[lukasdeopalenica]

When you refer to RH/LH you mean the direction of tightening?

yes, at least in my mother tongue we refer to such types of bolts in that way I am not sure, but according to DIN standard LH thread bolts should be marked with a letter L on their heads.

[mangocrazy]

When you refer to RH/LH you mean the direction of tightening? I find this a bit confusing, standard/reverse is clearer, ie you always untighten a standard thread by turning it anti-clockwise, or to the left.

Yes, sorry, that was what I meant. A figure of speech I've always used, I guess. And agree that clockwise or anti-clockwise would be a more accurate way of describing it.

So -

Clockwise to tighten = 'standard' and the direction of rotation when a nut is used to secure the crank pulley.
Anti-clockwise to tighten = 'reverse' and the direction of rotation when a bolt is used to secure the crank pulley.

[mangocrazy]

Well, I bought a brand new high spec air gun (a KS Tools 515.1210 MONSTER-Impact wrench) with 1650Nm of torque in the reverse direction, and that crank pulley nut still wouldn't budge. I think the problem was that the compressor couldn't maintain it's peak output for long enough. It's an electric driven motor from Metabo's basic line, 50 litre tank.

The problem is that there is no electricity at my lockup garage, and I had to run the compressor and fill the tank at home, then wheel the compressor to the garage and use the air stored in the tank to run the air gun. As the pressure decreased, so did the power of the air gun. Had it been run off a permanent supply and I could have just sat there hammering away, I think the result might have been different.

The only option I can see now is to winch the engine into the van and take it to my local garage. I've just about had enough...

[rossocorsa]

Your impact wrench is probably too large for the compressor better to have a lower rated one that needs less cfm

[WestonE]

Graham

This is too late now you have bought a tool but it might help others. I use this cordless tool from Milwaukee. It delivers 610Nm of torque and does not need mains power or a compressor. I also own a BIG compressor driven tool and the Milwaukee is still better and does not need a 3HP compressor to drive it. It states the most powerful 18V cordless impact wrench on the market.

HD18HIWF-402 M18 Heavy Duty Cordless Friction Ring Impact Wrench - See more at: http://www.milwaukeepowertools.co.uk/hd18hiwf-402-m18-heavy-duty-cordless-friction-ring-impact-wrench#sthash.bKPO9pcU.dpuf

 http://www.milwaukeepowertools.co.uk/hd18hiwf-402-m18-heavy-duty-cordless-friction-ring-impact-wrench

Sorry I did not provide this earlier.

Eric

[rossocorsa]

My Ingersoll rand air impact does a good job, takes crank nuts off no problem at all it's rated at 610nm and I use it with a cheap and now quite old nettos compressor. I had a misc Chinese impact gun before and it was useless at first I blamed the compressor but the gun was the issue.