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Ok guy as you know, I have been trying forever to get this stripped harmonic balance off. I have tried just about everything since I couldnt get local help. Just to recap. First I had issues with the center bolt. I finally got this off and began using the pulley puller. Unfortunately two of three bolts stripped. Used a tapping tool and fix one of those hole when the tap broke off into the third hole. Couldnt fix this so I have bought 2 different types of claw pullers. Both are duds and didnt work even after grinding one to grab the H. puller. Next we used a small torch to heat it a little, still no go. Last resort was welding the puller to the friggin thing. That also is a bust. I need a good mechanic willing to cut this sucker of and install my ATI. Im desperate now. I would like to get Way Motors to do it but I need an estimate. I cant just send it without knowing how much Im going to spend. I like the car but I have never had such a difficult time with a "should be simple" job! SOMEBODY HELP PLEASE!
Wow you are STILL working on this??? Can't you just drive over to Way or call him and see what he says? I doubt he or any other mechanic will agree to a FINAL price before trying it though given you've mangled a few of the removal points...
The car is not drivable. Thus asking for an "estimate " isn't far reaching. It give me an idea of possible cost. It's not a FINAL price.
take a few pictures I guess ... I personally would love to understand how welding onto the pulley failed - I mean..mine literally slid off just like in the mod mini video. Not instantly like he shows but once it started - it went pretty quick.
Yea I also surprised that you are still working on this.
From you previous post I got this quote
Originally Posted by Smthkd
No I have a bolt extension going down the center of the puller and pulley.
Need to clarify that the bolt I described is a extension bolt that is screwed in to the crankshaft not part the the pulley assembly. The pulley center bolt will push against this extension bolt and not the pulley.
Like I said before we will do the repair just need to schedule it and bring it in, but there is no way for me to give you a solid quote. This has now been cut on, welded on, stripped and so on so there is no way for me to know how long and what all I'm going to have to do to pull this off. I would budget $400-$500 and hope we can get it done quicker.
When has anyone had a repair bill that is less than this??? Haha - cars are money pits...all of them. 1 hour of labor is about $100-$150....might seem like a garage would come with big plasma cutters and fancy tools that would zip it right off...sure could do that but there's also flammable fluids, wiring that could get melted, all kinds of things that would need to be considered. I don't have a shop but if I did - those would be my last resorts and I would definitely spend the hour or so first looking for a mechanical solution.
Last edited by Kahnfucious; Dec 15, 2015 at 06:43 AM.
Had you taken it to way in the first place he probably could have done this in 3-4 hours, now after it's been hacked up there's no guarantees.
When I had a shop install the ATI pulley I bought from waymotorworks.... Think it was an hours labour...maybe 1.5...
They used a modified puller to get the old one off...think they said it was a steering wheel puller modded regular pulley puller parts...was done at a MINI centric shop...think it took longer to jack the car up, and take off the wheel, and remove the liner to get at the pulley then the actual time too do it...
Moral of the story...
The longer a bolt has sat in the same spot...untouched, the more likely you should have a pro help...it was tempting to diy it...but for a bit of $$, it was well worth it!!
We fought and got the pulley off today. Car is running and driving again, plus we added our WMW 15% pulley kit. Here is what it looked like when we got it. No threads to use the puller.
Was it rusted to the crankshaft?
Can you elaborate on what you needed to do to finally get it off?
I believe this is one of the times when the decades old saying, "you can get things good, fast and cheap but only two at once" comes to mind. Pick wisely.
Thanks WAY! You are AWESOME bro! Sorry I couldnt get there yesterday in time to pick up! I was at work and couldnt get anyone to come in in time to make it to the shop. Im excited! Wish I could get it today!
When my pulley went on me I read the horror stories about removing them. Still can't believe german engineers decided that pulling the balancer off with those tiny bolts was perfectly acceptable. Even using grade 8 hardware to change mine with the specialty puller, I still managed to break 2 grade 8 bolts. At least the ATI is on and I won't have to worry about that for a long time.
When my pulley went on me I read the horror stories about removing them. Still can't believe german engineers decided that pulling the balancer off with those tiny bolts was perfectly acceptable. Even using grade 8 hardware to change mine with the specialty puller, I still managed to break 2 grade 8 bolts. At least the ATI is on and I won't have to worry about that for a long time.
I'll consider myself one of the lucky ones- my old style crank pulley slid right off...took some cranking on the bolt and what not but it came out...and the new style one went on???
What you see is from the welder when they tried to weld the puller to the pulley.
I assume that at WMW, you are using more or less the same crankshaft pulley removal tool that most folks on this forum would use. Of the pulleys you've replaced, what is the percentage that give you difficulty, as in broken 6mm bolts, or a pulley that just won't budge?
