I'm on the waiting list for the puller tool from Way, got a 17% pulley for my birthday from my buddies (best ever). I'm not sure I'm capable psychological of waiting till it's my turn... I'm sure some of you understand.

I have found some other more quickly and cheaply available pulley puller tools...
like this one:
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...o=2&blockType=
and this one:
http://www.harborfreight.com/automot...ler-66868.html

just not sure if there are KNOWN problems with using regular pullers... any unfo is appreciated.

 

I've done the pulley swap with the proper puller. I really don't think you'll have enough room to get either of those universal pullers in there. You need to tilt the engine up off the passenger side motor mount to get clearance to pull the pulley off. If you do a search for supercharger pulley installation you will see what I'm talking about. I purchased my puller from Mini-madness and sold it on E-bay as soon as I was finished with it. I had no problem selling it and sold it for $20 less than I paid for it. Some companies will sell them to you and buy them back when you're finished. I chose the E-bay route and came out better.

Chad

 

is there anyone who's tried another option from these specialized pullers?

seems to me i'm going to have to have the engine jacked up any way I do it... even with the special tool, are you saying even more so? or are you talking room in another dimension that I'm not able to see in the pics from the instructions from mini-mania(seem to have the most pics and be the most exhaustive). these instructions: http://www.minimaniauk.co.uk/web/SCa...2/ArticleV.cfm

I've got a two prong puller I want to try but want to hear if there are for sure issues with using one of these, I know the custom tool would be easier... just impatient.

 

I understand impatience, believe me, I understand!!! I'm just thinking back about the job and I really don't think one of those other pullers will work but I haven't tried. If you have the three prong puller there, see if it will fit in between the fender well and the pulley (which will be up and forward a couple of inches).

That supercharger pulley also takes quite a bit of force to be pulled off as well. I'm not sure if you will have enough contact with the pulley by those other tools. Give it a shot though and post your results.

 

You have to jack the engine up pretty far to get enough room for the specialized puller. I needed a 2x4 and a 1x4 on top of the jack to get it high enough. I don't think you could get it up far enough for one of the "arm" style that you have linked.

Also...if you use the right one (the Mini Mania one), you won't need to take off the belt tensioner...saves a couple of steps.

I rented my puller from AutoXCooper (http://autoxcooper.com/alta_gominigo_m7-engines.html)...it's a $10 rental fee (basically just $10 for shipping) plus the cost to ship it back. There is a $75 deposit, but it was back in my PayPal 2 days after I shipped it back.

It was here pretty fast too...I think I placed the order on Sunday and it was here in time to do the install the next weekend. Dustin at AutoX was pretty helpful...if you wanted it faster he'd probably do it as long as you covered the extra shipping cost.

If you don't have the tensioner tool, they rent those as well and it'd be well worth the $15 fee (although I bought one assuming that I'd need to change the belt fairly often).

 

I'm getting the impression no one has done this with regular tools... someone chime in if they know otherwise.

I'm going to give it a try tomorrow night with regular readily available tools which are designed to do exactly what the specialty tools do.

edit: it's not even a matter of impatience purely now, it's come to principle...

 

Results?...

 

Even using the recommend puller, it's hard to get off. I had to heat up the OEM pully with a propane tourch and then it came right off.

 

Just a warning to those that might try this. Be very careful with the heat. You could damage the seals on the SC costing you a lot more down the road.

 

I had to cut it off, you have to use the special tool, this is not the type of "pressed on" pulley that the prong type pullers are made for. this is not a "serviceable" item according to BMW, that's why the SC for the JCW is a different part number (different pulley makes it a different part), it all comes from Eaton as a single unit. apparently before this tool they used to just cut all of the pulleys off, but I dont recommend this route at all, went from a three hour job to a three day job.

here's the result: http://vimeo.com/13006913