Re: [alfa] Re: crank locking tool: flywheel teeth versus cylinder rope

[Brian O'Kelley <brian_okelley@xxxxxxxxx>]

I tried gripping the pulley with big vice grips. Three
things happened:

1. chewed up the pulley
2. the harmonic dampner rotated - rendering the
relationship of the timing marks to the engine moot
3. last, the vice grips snapped, sending shards of
metal flying through the air like kung-fu darts (I
wear eye protection more often now)

Ultimately, what worked was renting a 3/4" impact
wrench. Didn't have to lock the engine - just put the
impact wrench on that big 38mm hex, turned it on for
about three seconds, and wa-la - pulley came free...

had to score another harmonic dampner from John
Norman.

Brian

--- John Hertzman <johnhertzman@domain.elided> wrote:
> Greg Modelle writes "I personally would not use rope
> to arrest the flywheel.
> Last year I was tearing-down a seized two-liter and
> was able to apply enough
> torque to the pulley nut to bend a connecting rod.
> Admittedly this is an
> extreme case, but why stress the bearings, rods,
> wrist-pins with force from
> mechanical advantage? It must be better to grab the
> flywheel directly. Keep
> the load-path short."
> 
> I agree. I disavow any expertise, and affirm that I
> am a worrywart, often (but
> not always) without cause. Many people (Russ Neely,
> for example) use the rope
> with never a problem. That doesn't mean the Gods
> would smile equally on me.
> Too often they don't.
> 
> I can remember Fred mentioning the rope-filled
> cylinder, but only as one way
> of popping-off unnutted but still stuck heads. I
> also remember his mentioning
> improvised tooth-lockers for flywheel ring gears
> when the factory tool (or
> equivalent) was not available. The proper factory
> tool used to be cheap; I
> have heard that similar products for VW are equally
> cheap and effective, and
> the improvisations (usually a screwdriver) seem both
> obvious enough and free.
> 
> Don Black once sent me a print of a photo of a bent
> con rod from one of his
> vintage open-wheel track cars- don't remember
> whether it was the Chevy-engined
> sprint car or the Alfa-engined midget, but he wrote
> "On my sprint car and
> midget, I kept a photo of a bent con rod tied to my
> fuel valve to remind me to
> shut the engine off by fuel not mag, so whilst
> parked in the sun, the methanol
> didnt expand and drip into the cylinders.  Then
> later, surprise, when the push
> truck laid into your tail your motor wouldnt turn!"
> The analogy among Don's
> hydrostatic lock, Greg's rust lock, and the popular
> rope lock is not absolute,
> but a tooth lock on the flywheel ring gear was the
> factory's choice, and would
> be mine also. Les Hurlock's spark-plug based piston
> stop probably works
> perfectly for him and for others - he is one smart
> greybeard, and I would
> never discount his opinion or experience. There are
> many ways to skin a cat,
> take your pick - -
> 
> John H.
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