Problem gone from bad to worse

[Jinaman]

So ive been having difficulty taking off my fan clutch. Ive sprayed pb blaster. Ive broken three different tools and my old alt belt. Today i got a fan clutch tool in. It bolts to the pulley and holds it still. So i bolt the tool on and put a 32 mill wrench on the bolt. Then twisting the 32 mill wrench clockwise I tried again to break it loose. After applying about as much force as i could i hear a loud band and the assembly spins. It looks like stripped out two of the four bolt holes behind the pulley and still haven't broken the bolt loose. Grrrr, i dont want to strip out another set of holes trying again. I'm out of ideas, as far as i understood it should never have been this tight. If i end up needing a new motor i will have to park the e30 project for a long time.

HELP!!!!!11!1one

[billybobjoseph]

Not sure if this will help at all but I had a problem using a 32mm open end wrench because it didn't fit between the pulley bolt heads and the back of the fan clutch. It felt like it seated but when I looked closely at it the wrench was sitting on one of the pulley bolt heads and not on the nut for the fan clutch. I had to buy a wrench with a thinner open end side. If you are using a tool held on by one of the pulley bolts you are further reducing that clearance. One of my greatest tool investments is a chain wrench - you can use it to hold the pulley firm while you break free the fan clutch.

[StereoInstaller1]

Hey man, what car is this? I have a new early water pump, a fan and a pulley I can sell you if it is that fuxxord.

Luke

[ttrousdell]

if you stripped the bolt holes, you will either have to tap it or get a new water pump now. try hitting the 32 wench with a hammer. The sudden force might break it free or get air an air hammer.

[Mossman]

Hold on hold on hold on....do you know it's reverse threaded? As in righty loosey, lefty tighty?

[ttrousdell]

^he did say clockwise

[Mossman]

okay just read the clockwise thing....confirm with a clock that you know which way clockwise is ;)

I personally subscribe to the BMFH method of getting off fan clutches, hit my big arse craftsman wrench (ground down for clearance) with a big fuggin hammer, in towards the nut and to the right, and the shock frees it up in a hurry. It needs the belts to be on there holding everything in place though, and sometimes I'll jam something up in the alternator belt to make it tighter. Good luck though man....

Good news is worst case you'll need a new waterpump and fan clutch after this debacle is over, not a new motor.

[ttrousdell]

^lol BMFH FTW

[StereoInstaller1]

I do the hammer thing too, generally works first shot.

[Jinaman]

Hammer trick was my first attempt - fifth lol. Im taking it off to to a timing belt/ water pump + head gasket. Luckily I did read some write-ups on doing a tbelt change so i never torqued the bolt in the wrong direction but. I trying to be cautious as with my attemps so i dont break everything in the process. Im more worried about stripping any more holes trying to get this off and having to resort to cutting up my water pump while still on the car. But once its off the bugger will feel my wrath. :evil:

Hey man, what car is this? I have a new early water pump, a fan and a pulley I can sell you if it is that fuxxord.

Luke

Thanks I get the feeling I might be taking a trip down to renton soon

[sweet6e30]

you could try this: I WOULD AT THIS POINT
if your replacing the waterpump, use a sawsall with a metal blade and cut through the waterpump at the end just before it mates with the clutchfan at the skinniest part, then the clutch fan will be separate, then you can mount it in a vise and take the 32 mm rev thread bastard off easy.

usually if things r being replaced, fuck em cut that shit, its faster and less pissing around

i did this when i first bought mine. PO (dumbass) had put red loctite on the threads

good luck


could also try using a prybar between the alt and the block: loosen the alt ten bolt and anchor bolt so it moves, increase the tension by prying the alt away from the block ...assuming the alt/wp belt is still on then use your 32 wrench and loosen the clutch fan nut.


its being a bitch because of the free play you have

[djdropit]

Dude, we had a hell of a time getting that thing off. Check and make sure the bolts that hold the pulley to the flange are threaded in straight. For some reason one of ours was threaded in crooked and the damn thing was locking pulley so that the center bolt wouldn't spin. We used so much force we busted two of the special wrenches for we took all of the pulley bolts out and threaded them back in correctly. Then it came out with a good single whack.

[billybobjoseph]

Why not use a cheater bar instead of a BMFH?

[Fixcinater]

BMFH has an instantaneous impact to it, instead of just a big constant force. Each work better for their specific purposes.

[Jinaman]

At this point i think im going to go the cut the f'er off method, im tried of trying to reason with it :evil: