arrrghhhhhhhhh : jrcivic, anyone??

[BigMoose]

[img]graemlins/idea.gif[/img] A technique I have used in similar situations is to wedge two beefy screwdrivers between the pully and the aluminum housing. Tap them in so that they are rigid. Then put a spare nut on the shaft so that the hex nut and the threaded end of the shaft are flush. Put a piece of aluminum bar against the shaft and then give it a good rap with a hammer. This oftentimes breaks the stiction that is holding the two metals together. As always it takes a "feel" for this that is hard to pass on thru the internet with text only.

Good luck, I know how frustrating this can be.

Regards,
BigMoose

[schwett]

i am REALLY pissed off! i have spent about 4 hours trying to remove a pulley from my lude to replace it with the new 9psi one.

three broken screwdrivers and a totally trashed stock pulley later it hasn't moved a millionth of an inch. i bought a gear puller, but even the smallest avaiable locally doesn't come anywhere near actually engaging the outer flanges of the pulley. i tried to wedge it out gradually, rotating it slightly each time. i used a screwdriver and hammer to beat on it laterally, hard enough to shake the car pretty violently.

jim, do you have any other suggestions? i am going to have to sell this thing to some unsuspecting fool, or just eat it i guess. unless i remove the blower, and the jackshaft assembly, and take apart the entire assembly, i don't think i can get it off.

here's a pic. you can see that there is little or no room between the pulley and the jackshaft assembly (it's about 3/32" of an inch), the small size of the pulley, and the fact that the outer flange does not stick out past the peaks of the inner grooves more than about 1/32" :

[grand600]

use am impact gun and a swivel socket. It will do you good. once you have the nut off it should just slide off. If not then go to sears and get a 3 jaw puller and you will be fine. Don't sweat it it's easy. email me if you have problems [email protected]

[schwett]

the nut comes off, piece of cake. the pulley itself behaves like it's ($*#)($*()#)($(#) welded to the drive shaft. the smallest gear puller at kragen, sears, or napa will not engage the pulley. the rounded trailing edge on the puller is too fat to allow the pulling edge to engage the teensy flange on the pulley.... is there another type of puller?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by grand600:
use am impact gun and a swivel socket. It will do you good. once you have the nut off it should just slide off. If not then go to sears and get a 3 jaw puller and you will be fine. Don't sweat it it's easy. email me if you have problems [email protected]</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

[schwett]

well, **** this. i give up. on my car, it is not possible to remove this thing without removing the blower and jackshaft assembly. i went to SIX auto parts and tool shops. no gear puller any of them had or knew of would fit in there because of the perpendicular proximity to the valve cover. i'm not talking about one or two gear pullers, i'm talking about 10-12 different types in all. the ones with the cages, the perpendicular arm types, the S arm types, etc etc.

further, it's not being held in place by some momentary bond. i did, after breaking 2 more screwdrivers and bending the hell out of a 1/8" flat bar steel pry bar, manage to move it approximately 1/32 of inch. it is just as hard to move now as when it was in it's original position.

jim, you might be interested in knowing that another prelude owner, down in southern california, also found it impossible to remove without taking off the jackshaft assembly (which means removing the blower and a bunch of other parts). it took them HOURS even once it was off and they had two people. the last time i took that much of the blower and engine apart, it took two of us about 3 hours each direction, and we didn't even remove the jackshaft.

i don't understand how it could possibly fit so tightly just by friction, but it does.

[BigMoose]

One final thought that will not help in removing the pulley though. If it is going to be tough to get it all the way off, It may be caused by the shaft key starting to smear, bend or tear due to an overtorque situation. If it is a woodruff key in the shaft, sometimes the shaft yields a bit and piles up in the driven direction. Either cause will generate a "real" interference fit. If this is happening only on higher mileage installations, the solution will have to be a design change to the shaft and or key material to one with a higher modulus.

If you ever get it off, put a new key in the shaft slot, if it is loose, the shaft yielded. This of course assumes the shaft keyway was originally machined right.

Sorry it was not "stiction" you would have been home free by now.

Regards,
Moose

[schwett]

i found a gear puller that i could get engaged on the pulley - i had to saw off the t-bar, but it engaged. just by chance the clamping mechanism on this particular one rotates just at the location of a bolt recess in the valve cover.

i cranked it onto the pulley with a huge pair of pliers for leverage. rotating the screw (i needed about a foot of moment arm to turn it!) did NOTHING AT ALL except make a big DENT in the end of the shaft (it literally crushed a 1/8" deep cone into the solid steel end of the jackshaft bolt). then i removed the gear puller and filed down the end of the screw to about 1/4" across. repeating the procedure ripped right through the aluminum flange of the pulley.

i am just so pissed off by this. i don't normally get so frustrated, and i don't mind difficult or complex tasks, but this is ridiculous. ****

[Holden]

I feel your pain. Sorry.

Don't give up. (Although it looks like you are past the point of no return.)

I'm crossing my fingers for you.

[schwett]

i guess it is giving up, because i can't get it off. period. no tool in my arsenal or at any store in the area will do this. i have no choice but to remove the whole assembly and throw it out. JR will sell me a new one, i hope.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ March 09, 2002 09:15 PM: Message edited by: schwett ]</font>

[JRCivic]

I cannot believe you are having soooo much trouble.
Have you tried to HEAT the pulley to expand it ???