The Puller & The Pulley, or Chrysler Sebring, Day 25

We are finally starting to tear into the motor itself. Soon we will know whether it can be salvaged or not. But right now we need to get the timing chain off, which means the timing chain cover needs to come off, which means the big fat pulley on the end of the crank needs to come off.

Stupid pulley. It's held on with a bolt, but simply pulling the bolt out is not enough. The pulley is pressed onto the shaft (the front/right end of the crankshaft). "Pressed" is putting it mildly. It's pushed on with the force of Jehovah. Pulling it off is going to require some prayer.

So I went to Lucille's, our local temple to the gods of machined-ness. The had a whole selection of pullers available, little tiny cute ones, great big monster ones, two jawed, three jawed, high strength, really cheap, and really expensive. The pulley I'm dealing with is an eight inch monster, but the big thick rim is supported by thin little spokes. Can I pull it off by the rim? Or has it been pushed on with so much force that pulling on the rim will bend the spokes and effectively destroy the pulley?

Maybe I can get the hooks for a small puller in those slots around the hub, plus the price on the small puller is only ten bucks. If this little puller gets destroyed, it's not the end of the world. Mr. Lucille though has another idea. He has a special, high strength, expensive puller, that might be just the ticket. The one he has is a warranty return. Some yahoos bought it and put a six foot wrench on the end and trashed the threads on the center screw, the one that does all the pulling. So he and his (grand-)daughter scramble around and find a tap and a die to clean up the threads with. They run the screw from the puller through the die, and it really does look much better. They run the tap through the center of puller, but it's hard to tell if it makes much improvement.

This puller sells for $70, and he wants half of that for this "reconditioned" version. I am skeptical. I have dealt with recalcitrant pull-ees and weak pullers before and this does not sound like a good deal. But he guarantees it: if it doesn't work, he'll give me my money back. Well, all right then, if it does the trick, it will be worth it.

It doesn't work. There is not enough room between the pulley and the timing chain cover to get the hooks behind the inner hub. I take it back and exchange it for the big, three armed, 8 inch puller shown in the picture. Only problem is now there is nothing to push against. The central screw is too large to go inside the bolt hole in the crank, so I drill a small hole in the center of the bolt, screw it almost all the way in by hand, and use it to push against. It works! And it doesn't destroy the pulley, which is really good. Now that I know the pulley can be moved without an ungodly amount of force, I substitute a couple of deep, quarter inch drive sockets for the bolt. They work perfectly and the pulley comes off.

Now we can take the timing cover off and see what glories are revealed.