Removing the Crankshaft Pulley

Hello all. First time poster, long time auto mechanics enthusiast. I'm gonna be changing the timing belts on a 1990 Toyota Corolla comming up soon, and the flywheel is NOT exposed for me to put a prybar or clamp onto. This presents what I believe to be a very common dilemma for the home mechanic. How do you get that darned crankshaft pulley to stay in still so you can crack that big bolt with a breaker bar?

I talked to a mechanic at a local shop about this, and he showed me a giant two-foot long strap wrench, a mighty beast of a tool. I looked around town (SF bay area) for a hardware store that might sell such a tool, and I couldn't find any! What's worse, the cheapest one on the net I can find is nearly $100.

So what I would like to know is who here has either found a good deal on one of those giant strap wrenches, or has devised some ingenious method of taking the crankshaft pulley off without one? I'm sure there's tons of home mechanics out there who have found one way or another of getting the job done.

So please help! My everlasting gratitude to EVERYONE who replies with the smallest bit of advice! Thank you.

This can be frustrating:). Don't worry, there is a simple solution. Go to your local chain tool rental store (I'm not sure what chains are in the SF Bay area) and rent an impact wrench. An electric one should work just fine. When you use an impact wrench you do not need to block the flywheel because the crankshaft will not turn. The impact wrench has weights inside of it, almost like little hammers, that are spun by the motor. These weights repetedly slam into a lever that is connected to the socket drive. They hammer the socket drive around in small steps so that large amounts of torque are not applied continously, but rather in bursts. Since the torque is provided in bursts the crankshaft will have little reaction to this application of torque and won't spin. I changed the timing belt on a 91 camry about 6 months ago and the impact wrench popped the pully off in about 5 seconds. It should only cost you 20 bucks to rent an electric one for the day. Good luck!!

What I do is wrap an old section of timing belt around the timing pulley on the crank, lock it with a vice grips near a safe place on the frame. Now, it's held from turning by the vice grips against the frame. Then I usually can exert lots of torque to break it free -- just be sure you know which direction it turns to loosen...