[Blown Camaro]

So I borrowed this kit from a friend and work and heated the balancer in the oven to 175 degrees. It went on nice and snug. When I went to remove the tool part of it stayed in the crankshaft snout! It is not broken, it just unscrewed. I really poor design if you ask me. It must have bottomed in the crank snout and that's why it is tight. User error? I dunno. So I figured, no big deal. I will just use the puller and remove the balancer to get at the threaded rod. NOPE. I can't center the tool and as soon as I started to tighten it it puts a side load on the bolts that screw into the damper. The threaded rod the puller is pressing against has a flat face.

Any ideas?

[joelster]

Put the correct socket on top of the hex head of the tool. Now the pointed part of your puller will stay centered in the cavity of the socket. It should come off without too much trouble. You shouldn't need any special tools to install a balancer. Get it on as far as you can by hand. Then use a longer balancer bolt and some washers to get the balancer on most of the way. You want to make sure the bolt in engaged into a lot of threads on the crank before it pulls on the balancer. Once it is almost all the way in, remove the longer bolt and you can use the stock balancer bolt to finish it up.

[Blazin72]

Those installers are usually universal and that's why it uses a stud to adapt different cranks to the installer. Is it possible the stud had a groove in one side for a flat head screwdriver and the stud was inserted backward?

The stud shouldn't be stuck in the crank snout all that tight. Is there any way at all to jam two nuts together then put a wrench on it?

[Blown Camaro]

Originally Posted by joelster

Put the correct socket on top of the hex head of the tool. Now the pointed part of your puller will stay centered in the cavity of the socket. It should come off without too much trouble. You shouldn't need any special tools to install a balancer. Get it on as far as you can by hand. Then use a longer balancer bolt and some washers to get the balancer on most of the way. You want to make sure the bolt in engaged into a lot of threads on the crank before it pulls on the balancer. Once it is almost all the way in, remove the longer bolt and you can use the stock balancer bolt to finish it up.

The threaded rod is round at the end and has maybe 2 threads i can reach. The Socket idea is worth a shot although it will probably tear up the threads. I don't see anyway to remove this tool without pulling the balancer off again.

[Blown Camaro]

Originally Posted by Blazin72

Those installers are usually universal and that's why it uses a stud to adapt different cranks to the installer. Is it possible the stud had a groove in one side for a flat head screwdriver and the stud was inserted backward?

The stud shouldn't be stuck in the crank snout all that tight. Is there any way at all to jam two nuts together then put a wrench on it?

I think what I did was install it too far into the crank, then when I was pulling the damper on it bottomed the crank snout threads which tightened the stud so now I can't unscrew it. There is not slot, no hex just a smooth flat round face and no way to center a puller.

[Blown Camaro]

Still can't get this stud out of the crank. On a mechanic's advice I got a cutoff wheel on a Dremel (only 2 threads worth of stud sticking out past the damper) and cut a deep notch in it. Then I got an impact driver with a bit that fit tightly. So far so good. Removed the fan, radiator and transmission cooler so I had some swinging room. I used a 2 pound hammer and wailed on it for 20 minutes. NOTHING. It never budged. Yes, the impact is set on LEFT.

Any ideas? All I can think of now is to carefully weld a bolt on it.