Anyone got any tricks to get the huge flywheel side and pulley side bolts off?

 

ive got no airtools

 

The nut is torqued to over 300 Ft-LBS. If you have access to an impact wrench, that's the way to go. Electric impact wrenches work fine, but if the nut has been overtorqued, the typical 250 ft-LB units you find in the stores won't do it and you will have to rent something larger. If you can't do that, you may be able to lock the flywheel from moving and use a LARGE breaker bar. But this is very difficult to do under the car.

 

its going to take a lot of laughing to keep from it being a lot of screaming. haha And there will probably be plenty of that. It took me and my buddy about 3 days of crankin and prying on it to get it off. We ended up using a 3 foot long steel tube and put that on the wrench and torqued on that. Even bent the tube a bit before it finally broke loose..... So all I can say is crack open a beer and find something to get some extra leverage and torque. Good luck man!!

 

racing beat flywheel nut wrench = oh so useful

 

WORD! That is what I have.....

 

how i got mine off is to get a screw drivre and jam it in so the flywheel will not move, then you get the breaker bar and the $70 socket that i got raped on, and lastly take a 3-5lb sledge hammer and take some serious wacks on the breaker bar. when you swing don't thud the sledge you have to kind of shock the nut to break it free. this is after a known rotory shop here in the greater Atlanta are told me that i wouldn't get it off. next if you need to get the flywheel off (manual transmission) you take that same hammer and give it one solid wack and it'll fall right off. my mechanic made me feel stupid with that one wack after i told him that i couldn't get it off by prying!

 

I like the Racing Beat wrench, and have always been able to use it from underneath, with the car on jackstands.

I use a piece of flat bar stock bolted to the flwheel to keep it from turning.


http://www.racingbeat.com/FRmazda2.htm

 

Holy hell $70! I got mine for like 19 at sears.

 

what is that a 2 1/4 or 2 1/2?

 

Its 54 mm, or 2-1/8".

I meant for the link I posted earlier to take you directly to the flywheel wrench, but it doesn't. When you get to Racing Beat's site, click Flywheel on the dropdown menu, and then scroll down till you see the wrench. At $32, it's probably about the price of a 2-1/8" socket

 

Yeah linking off RB's site is a pain. You have to right click on the link and go to properties, then copy-paste the URL.
And 32 bucks doesnt seem too bad considering all the blood sweat and tears itll save.
Edit - Yes, it is 2 1/8 inches.

 

The big nut?...iuts like 53 MM isnt it?...anywho my 850f / 1000r foot pound impact gun works great.

 

eat your wheeties and some elbow grease. or do what i did and use a 1100 lb impact gun

 

Take the engine to some mechanic with air tools and told it to release the nut, then says Thank you.

 

Yup. A local truck shop does it for me. 1" drive impact wrenches designed to work on big rigs.

-=Russ=-

 

Go buy a compressor and impact gun, thats your best bet. The great thing about doing that is you have these items for later jobs. Getting my flywheel nut off was the simple part, my bastard flywheel didn't want to budge after I loosened the nut up!

 

Instead of spending $500 on an impact gun and a compressor large enough to run it, just rent/buy/borrow an electric impact gun. Generally speaking you can get a 500 ft-LB electric impact gun for under $250, or rent for a LOT less.

 

There's a trick to it.

First, spin the flywheel nut on a few turns so the flywheel doesn't go leaping off the eshaft onto your (floor/foot/cat) and damage the ring gear or you.

Then, pry on one side, between the back of the flywheel and the engine casing. You don't need a huge amount of pressure, but be firm.

Finally, hit the opposite side of the flywheel with a decent sized hammer. Make sure you hit it on the unmachined surface, not the actual friction surface (unless you don't care about the flywheel). The flywheel should pop loose in a few hits.

-=Russ=-

 

Let me modify that slightly: Put a block of wood on the flywheel, and hit that with a hammer. Chipping a flywheel sucks.

 

Yeah, I learned the trick to it, but it took alot of prying and screwing the flywheel up. Fortunately I was putting a new SR 9lb flywheel on as well. The only other time I changed a flywheel was in my Impreza and it was infinitely easier to get off, and I changed it from the top of the car rather than dropping the tranny, but that's impossible in the 7, the engine sits back too far..

 

Wouldnt a rubber mallet work, or is it not forceful enough.

 

Might work. I've just never tried. Most aren't heavy enough to get much of a swing.

 

They just bounce back on you...

 

The vibrations from the hammer blow are an important factor in breaking the flywheel loose. A rubber mallet will absorb the vibrations, and be less effective.