My front main seal is starting to leak and I have a ATI damper installed. Do I need a special tool to remove it or any balancer tool will do? It’s on my R53

 

I believe you can use the same tool as you needed to remove the crank pulley. Also, there are 2 options regarding the bolts (facelift vs prefacelift). I bought the laser tool and it came with both.

 

well the tool I used to remove the factory damper was the Mini tool. So I can use that one?

 

I used this, i think it’s the only one you can use without damaging anything

 

What do you use to counter pull the duck's foot? The puller I have has adapters that are too big to go into the shaft. Can I just use the loosened crankshaft bolt for this? That is, after loosen it all the way, thread it back in maybe 50% and use that to pull against?

Asking because i'd hate to damage the threading, given i'll be using an impact gun to pull the puller (engine is out of car, flywheel is off, so I got nothing to prevent the crankshaft from moving if I were to use a breaker bar...)

Note: The 3 bolts are not tightened all the way ... just placed them there quickly to demonstrate my wishful setup.

 

I think some do it and get away with it, but I personally wouldn’t want to put a force like that on the crank threads. If anything happens to them, a best case scenario might be retapping them, if that’s possible, worst case would be pulling apart the motor to replace the crankshaft.

 

I saw modmini do something similar but with a bolt that's long but thinner (i.e. does not thread in). Might go that route if I can't find out a better way. Can't seem to find anyone that has the actual ATI tool to borrow. And heck if I'm going to pay $220 for such tool...!

 

when I removed the original dampener, I removed the bolt and put a socket extension inside the crankshaft and used that push against with the puller you have.

worked great. Didn’t need an impact either.