“How to use” on impact wrench.

[terry]

I have a Kobalt 350 lb impact wrench (no adjustment). I already used it to remove the crankshaft pulley bolt on 2006 kia rio manual tranny. I am in the process of putting it back and tightening it. My worry is that am i going to strip the thread from using the impact. Im new to impact wrench. I have a torque wrench but the pulley turns along and i dont have any special or home made tools for the task. I already tried shifting to gear and applying breaks but didnt work. thanks.

Torque for the bolt is 101 to 103 lbs

Topic

[ratdude747]

You could try the old rope in the cylinder technique… the idea being that you put a length of rope (the kind that won’t leave fibers behind) in the cylinder through the spark plug hole, leaving some out to allow for easy removal. then you turn the crank until it approaches TDC, at which point the rope will prevent further turning. once to torque, back off the crank and pull out the rope.

Another trick I’ve heard of (at least for pulling/torquing flywheel/flexplate bolts) is to remove the starter and use a flat blade screwdriver against the teeth on the flywheel/flexplate through the starter hole. At least that’s what my Haynes “manual” says in the engine removal section.

That said, most times I’ve seen this done, IIRC they just ran it with an impact.

[EricTheCarGuy]

As long as you start the threads by hand you should be fine tightening it with the impact.

[terry]

How bout wedging a scewdriver behind the pulley, is it safe to do that? There is a small bolt behind the pulley. Wedge the screwdriver between the pulley and bolt probably? Thanks by the way for the replies.

[Mike]

[quote=”terryf” post=146167]How bout wedging a scewdriver behind the pulley, is it safe to do that? There is a small bolt behind the pulley. Wedge the screwdriver between the pulley and bolt probably? Thanks by the way for the replies.[/quote]

No.

As has been mentioned, get a foot or two of common yellow or blue nylon rope. Feed some of it through a spark plug hole and rotate the crank by hand until the rope in the combustion chamber prevents the crank from rotating further.

You don’t need an impact gun to install the vibration damper/pulley bolt. (Impact tools are meant for disassembly, not assembly.) Straightforward socket, ratchet and torque wrench will do the job properly.

[terry]

Thanks for your response Evil but i already did the Screwdriver wedge and test drove it. I didnt notice anything abnormal. The small bolt im talking about is the bolt that secure the lowest part of the timingbelt cover and it sits behind the pulley. What possible damages do you think can occur about what i did? And what symptoms would i see?

[Mike]

Glad you got it to work, but that sort of thing isn’t a great procedure. However, when your back is against the wall, needs must when the devil drives.

It isn’t doing your poor screwdriver any favors. And, crank pulleys tend to be quite hard but brittle. I’ve seen many that were cracked, chipped and chunked from poor use of tools. A couple of feet of rope is far cheaper than a replacement pulley. You got lucky and dodged a bullet this time. Dodging bullets shouldn’t become the way you routinely do things, though.

[Author]

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