Stuck on sprockets

SubaSteevo · #1 09-20-2003, 10:13 PM

I am in the middle of changing my timing belt and water pump as well as the cam and crank seals. I attempted to take off the cam sprocket to get the old water pump out but nothing seems to be able to hold it. I have tried holding it with a belt wrench, sticking a screwdriver in the hole, and I even made a tool consisting of a piece of wood with a hole in the center for the socket and 3 screws to hold the sprocket but it just bent the screws. Is there anything else I can do? If anyone is near the Clinton, NJ area and has a tool for this job I'd be in debt to you for life if I could borrow it. I was trying to get the job done this weekend so that I could take the car back to school with me tomorrow (actually tonight since its after midnight). As of right now it looks like its gonna be out of commision for the week.

gl1674 · #2 09-21-2003, 12:12 AM

I can understand you - I had tried holding it by keeping a socket over a 10mm bolt that keeps the plastic cover and and I broke the bolt. Since then I gave up and ordered the tool ($80 and a month of waiting for a heavy piece of steel with two welded knobs).

Your best option is to fabricate the tool - take steel not wood, use
decent size bolts, not screws. The factory tool is rather long, it does take a fair amount of torque to undo the bolts.

huck369 · #3 09-21-2003, 10:01 AM

A big pipe wrench on the sproket works pretty good...just make sure to clean up any burs it might make on the teeth

Subafreak · #4 09-21-2003, 10:33 AM

Next time try taking them off before removing the T-belt. Thats what I did, I just stuck a pry bar on one of the holes in the flexplate and put a really big 1/2drive ratchet on the cam bolt. It will flex alot but it should come loose before skiping teeth.

SubaSteevo · #5 09-21-2003, 10:42 AM

Trying to find a place to rent the tool. Might need to put the belt back on and then take it off again. We actually sheered an extention in half trying to get the bolt off.

SubaSteevo · #6 09-21-2003, 05:15 PM

Nobody had the tool to rent and we couldn't get the sprocket off so we changed the water pump without removing the cover, NOT FUN! Took us all day to change it so the car is officially stuck in the garage for the week. Hopefully I'll be able to get a tool for the sprocket so I can do the seals next weekend, otherwise I'll just skip them. So far we've broke an extention in half and a Craftsmen strap wrench down the middle. Atleast I'll get a new strap wrench out of it.

#7 09-22-2003, 08:58 PM

The tool that I used for this was similar to a Vise-Grip, but has a chain attached to it. It works in the same manner as your strap wrench. To protect the surface of sprocket or pulley, simply get a long piece of leather and wrap it circumferentially around the sprocket so that it contacts the surface instead of the chain. I actually saw one of these tools in a sales brochure for sears yesterday so you can pick one up when you exchange your broken strap-wrench. I think it is intended to be a pipe tool.