LS1 - Part 8: Harmonic Balancer Removal

Ok, this was a bit tricky. I also forgot to take some pics so I had to use some old pics, but hopefully you guys will get it.

In order to remove the harmonic balancer, I had to remove this bolt:

That bolt is on there so tight that you will need an air compressor and an air ratchet gun to get it off. My buddy Crazy Cool Carl came over with his air compressor:

I think this was a 3 and a half horsepower air compressor that he got at Harbor Freight. We plugged it into an extension cord, let it run til it was "warmed up." It was pretty loud warming up. When the loud noise stops, that's when you know it's done warming up. We then hooked up an air ratchet gun to it. The crankshaft pulley bolt is a 15/16 bolt, so we put a 15/16 socket on the end of the air ratchet gun. Carl put the gun/socket on the bolt and pulled the trigger, and it came off in a second. AWESOME.

Then we had to get one of these harmonic balancer removal kits:

We went to Advance Auto because they have a "tool borrow policy" where you pay for the tool, but if you bring it back the next day, they refund you 100% of the money. Great for when you only need to use a specific tool occasionally.

You'll notice in the kit that it has a few parts — some bolts, some nuts, a "crow's foot," a pushrod or two, and a clamp bracket thing. In the first pic below you can see that in one end of the crow's foot, we put in one of the pushrods (indicated by the red arrow), and in the other end, we screwed in the nut and bolt (indicated by the white arrow). We also had to stick in a pretty long bolt into the end of the crank so that the pushrod had something to push against (this is shown the second pic below. You'll notice that the harmonic balancer is already off in this pic. This is so you can see this step easier.)

Now what we had to do is get the end of the pushrod to butt up against the bolt in the second pic above, take the three claws of the crow's foot and make them grab onto the three prongs of the harmonic balancer:

Once they're grabbed on, attach a 3/4 inch socket and a socket wrench to the crow's foot:

Turn it slowly but steadily. The crow's foot will start to pull the harmonic balancer off! You will know it's working when you start seeing this stripe of metal:

Just keep turning and turning, and it will eventually come off:

Next I will talk about removing the oil pan.