Im trying to remove the crankshaft pulley and haromic balancer on a 2000 monte carlo with a 3.8 and had a few questions. I'm thinking that the bolt on the pulley, 20+ mm, has to be taken off counter clockwise. And then using a puller the balancer will come off seperately. Cause i've tried using a 1/2 inch breaker and the bolt didn't budge. And im getting conflicting stories about how to remove them. Any input would be greatly appreciated, I tried searching for it and found one very vague answer so i just wanted to verify.

Thanks

 

Check with GM on that model. Sometimes it is a right hand thread so you would just be making it tighter. Should not be that hard to remove the bolt.

 

When in doubt, try to turn it the other way...lol. Good advice DEI.

 

It is that hard to remove the bolt- that has to be the worst bolt in the entire car. I've removed 3 so far (all engines out of the car), and had1 nightmare one.

I hit it with PB Blaster the day before, then I had one friend sit on the block (keep in mind my engine was out- so it was more difficult) and hold a big screwdriver through a hole in the flexplate to keep the engine from turning, I pushed the socket on as hard as I could. Then I had my friend (~325 lbs) jump on the end of my 1/2" breaker bar (~24" long with another 2' of pipe slipped over the end of it). He had to jump on it about 3 or 4 times before it finally broke loose.

The other two I did weren't as bad, but they were extremely difficult as well.

Unfortunately I don't remember which way it loosens, but I'm sure it loosens the opposite way the balancer turns when the engine is running. I want to say it was normal righty tighty lefty loosey though.

 

I just took one off last night,and many more. They loosen to the left like normal,high torque so it will be difficult.

 

You know the OP hasn't signed on here in more than a decade, right?

 

I’m going to work on mine soon. This is helpful.