Anybody else have this problem - Harmonic Balancer

The other day, I replaced the Crankshaft position sensor. To do that, I had to remove the harmonic balancer. I had rented the harmonic balancer remover kit from autozone. When I went to remove the harmonic balancer, the 4 sets of bolts that came with the kit were all too big to remove the balancer. I went back to autozone and told the guy that and asked him if there are different sets of bolts and he said to try a hardware store. I went to a local hardware store and bought like 5 sets of 3 bolts to try and match up the size and thread. I finally found one. In general, the kit did not come with the right size bolts for my car and I had to go get different ones? I have a 2000 grand prix gtp.

Here is the problem with using a standard puller.This is the one that we need to use,GM's J-tool to remove the Harmonic Balancer (J-38197-2)


Goto any local auto shop, they should carry the standard harmonic balancer crank pulley pulley. Its a brass 'Y' lookin device and it comes with several sets of bolts. Some places even allow you to rent it. You will need this and then make a trip to the hardware store. You will need (3x) 1/4" Fine thread Bolts 3" in length and over sized washers for those bolts. Goto the plumbing section and find some PCV tubing. 3/8" inside Dia. Then go back to the bolt area and find a smooth 3/8" rod that will slide into the PCV tubing. This is what you have to do. If you look at the pulley puller's center bolt you will see that it is threaded and then at the end it has like a 1/2" length of smooth area. The goal is to slide the PCV tubing over that area and then your using the 3/8" thick rod to extend another good 2". The reason for this is because the standard puller can mess up our crank. Once you take the pulley off and if you were too look in the hole, you will notice that the crank pulley is not threaded - but the crank is. Thats what the bolt is screwing into. If you were to use the standard center bolt on the puller - the non-threaded part isnt long enough to protect the threads in the hole. So what would happen is you would crank on the pulley to remove it and the bolt would mess up the threads inside the crank. Then your screwed . So this way with this setup the PVC can rub on the threads all it wants cause it won't mess them up.But it sounds as if you were lucky and didnt mess the threads up and were able to get the center bolt back in.

~Larry~

Larry,
Man, did I get lucky I didn't screw up the threads. The bolt went in just fine so i take it I didn't mess up the threads. I also want to make sure I am clear on your instructions. I understand the part about getting the 3 fine threaded 1/4" bolts. About the PVC part though. So in general what u are saying is put the 3/8" ID PVC pipe into the hole first to protect the threads. Then put a 2" rod that fits into the PVC into the hole. Then, put the long center bolt in to screw the harmonic balancer out? This way, the long bolt to screw out the harmonic balancer hits the rod? :screwy: <--ME lol

looks like you've been propoerly hooked up.