So the rubber went out on my Harmonic balancer, I have a 1997 3.2 v6 2wd auto Rodeo. I ordered a new one, was in the process of taking out the fan to gain access down there and noticed its a huge bolt. How hard is it to replace this part? Do i need factory tools?

 

Balancer bolts can be a total pain. You're going to need to find a way to hold the pulley still (ie: depending on the design of the pulley you may be able to wedge something like a drift, large screw driver, or pry bar between the a hole in the inner diameter of the pulley and pry it against the timing cover or oil pah, in order to keep the pulley from rotating. The you'll need a long, 1/2" drive breaker bar to break the bolt loose. It may take a little heat, but be careful because heat can expand the bolt diameter, making it harder to remove. But give it a try if you aren't able to break it free without heat first.

Also, for keeping the pulley in place some people say that you can just put your manual transmission and even automatic transmission car in gear, but put the emergency break on so that the rear wheels don't try to rotate, and this is supposed to hold the engine crankshaft (and crank pulley of course) from rotating. I've never had luck with this on any manual nor auto cars that I've removed the pulley on, because the engine still somehow wants to rotate. But the only other thing that I can think of to keep your crank pulley still is too jam a large screwdriver or pry bar in the ring gear. You maybe be able to jam something between the teeth and the side of the opening to the ring gear, or maybe between the holes in the ring gear plate (if it has holes) and the housing.

I don't currently own a Rodeo, so I dunno the design of this stuff, but you might have an inspection plate that you can remove to access the ring gear, otherwise you can remove the starter and jam a large flat-blade screwdriver between one of the ring gear teeth and wedge the screwdriver against the opening as you slowly rotate the crank counter-clockwise. It may take a second hard on your pry tool to hold it in place while to try to crack the bolt loose. And be sure to get a torque wrench if you don't already have one and torque a NEW bolt (these are usually not re-usable bolts) to the correct specification. Hope that helps!

-Andrew

 

its a 22 mm bolt so use that with a breaker bar, get a friend w/ a big pipe wrench to hold the harmonic balancer while you break it loose, probally will require a 5 ft extension on the breaker bar like a jack handle or some metal pole. and just wiggle the crap out of it to remove it it doesn't require a tool to remove it even though its stuck as hell. hope this helps