Hey guys I haven't posted in ages! But...

I finally cracked my OEM flexplate revving back at some clown at a light at the end of the summer last year...

Well its a nice day in MI today and I decided to get back to replacing this thing again...Ive already bought a new B&M plate, ARP bolts, etc. about 6 months ago and have been sitting.

*Things to note*
1) The car is in my folks garage with the engine & trans still in it
2) It is jacked up slightly on one side and 2 ft up on the other side
3) The trans is unbolted and resting on a jack and slightly pulled back
4) I can barely get a 1/2" ratchet with a 11/16" socket onto the bolts
5) When under the car, my nose is approx 2" from touching the oil pan...

These are the circumstances I have to work with, no taking it to a shop, no removing the engine, etc. The driveshaft, torque arm, exhaust mounts, trans crossmember, etc. are already removed because I thought this would be an easy fix.


I cannot for the life of me get the flexplate bolts loose!
I have sprayed them down with penetrating oil, tried breaker bars etc.
Ive tried the "have one guy hold onto the crank pulley with a breaker bar while you ratchet on the flexplate bolts" maneuver to no avail. All that happens is my crank pulley bolts simply come loose.

These things are ON there! Is there any tricks anyone can recommend to get this thing off? Does that flexplate wrench actually work that I can buy?

P.S. If I do get it off, should I be using loc-tite red or something on my new bolts for re-installation?

Thanks for advice!

Steve0

 

Pull a spark plug and put 3 ft of 1/4" nylon rope in the cylinder and rotate crank until it wont turn any more .

 

Hmmm..can you tell me this in detail so I dont screw anything up? This looks promising but I can see me breaking something else if done wrong!

Remove a spark plug and shuve a bunch of rope in the hole? Is there a way to screw this up and can you ellaborate on how it will work?

 

If you use that method, make sure that both valves are closed on that cylinder.
Shoving the rope in there prevents the engine itself from turning over.

Which bolts are you having trouble removing? The 3 perimeter or the 5 central?
I usually shove a screwdriver in the slot where the perimeter bolts go, turn the engine until the screwdriver is resting against the block, and then loosen the perimeter bolts 1 at a time. As you get 1 loose, remove screwdriver, spin engine till you get to the next one, re-insert screwdriver.....you get the picture.

 

Perimiter as in torque converter bolts? Those are removed. As of now its just the flexplate bolts and they are seriously tight...They were probably installed in 1989 and have never been loosened. I beleive there is 5 or 6 of them and Ive tried to loosen them all. I had a guy hold onto my crank pulley with all his might and he almost had a heart attack with me turning my flexplate bolts counter clockwise.

 

Since you already have pretty much everything out of the way, why not just remove the tranny and use an impact wrench to remove the bolts?

 

Wedge the flex with a screwdriver like Viper suggested and use the breaker bar on the bolts. Eat your wheaties, they're really in there

Oddly enough, I remember those bolts being 9/16" for both my SBC and LSx, not 11/16"

 

Agreed, i used a impact on mine, they came off really easy.

 

Turn the bolts counterclockwise to loosen.

Never mind, I keep forgetting it's the digital generation.

 

Righty tighty
lefty loosey

Bolts are still analog

 

If he's loosening the flex while using a socket on the crank bolt, the one with the lower torque will come loose first. In this case, the crank bolt did, so he's going the correct direction. If neither budged, hes going the wrong way or not pulling hard enough

 

If one guy is on the front of the motor and one guy in the back, whoever has the least tightened bolt, will turn first.

In my case, my front end pulley bolt comes loose every time I try to loosen a flexplate bolt from the back.

Whoever came up with this idea and lives by it is delirious.

Anyway, like I said I don't have a whole bunch of room in my tiny dads garage. The trans is unbolted and still under the car but pulled back slightly.

I do appreciate all the smart alec remarks such as "turn counter clockwise" or "remove your transmission and use air tools" etc, but if you read my original post you would realize you are only getting off on seeing yourself type.

Can anyone provide serious input here? I may have bought this car when I was 16, but I assure you I am not a teenager anymore and these retarded responses are why I have been absent for years....and am looking for serious help on the matter. I do not want to remove the trans whatsoever because I have 0 room in this garage.

I guess im just talking to myself and might as well keep asking the morons at iroczone for answers.

 

Your answer was given a while back. Such practicies are so common, its almost considered common sense. Cant hold it against them to rip on you for something so simple. There is a special tool to lock the flexplate teeth, but unlikey youd purchase it for one use and get your money's worth.

 

Exactly.
There aren't a lot of options to do what you're trying to do.
Of all the suggestions given, pick one and run with it.
I was able to remove my flexplate with the trans installed using the method that I described.

 

If you don't have an impact wrench and/or you can't get the transmission from out from under the car, I agree use the screwdriver in the flywheel teeth trick. I think thats what I did the first time I ever removed the flywheel. To make it easier maybe have someone crawl under there with you and hold the screwdriver while you work on the bolts. Put them on the passenger side and you on the driver side. Just make sure you don't puch them in the face when the bolts break loose!

 

A sure way would be to use a harmonic balancer puller. Install it and then have a helper put a screwriver through it to keep the engine from turning.

 

And locking the engine with rope worked for me

 

I didnt understand what that exactly meant untill you are saying now. Put the screwdriver into a hole into the flexplate and turn untill the screwdriver jams against part of the car and use that for torque?

 

I replaced my flexplate not too long ago on my 3.4 same as you all I did was use a socket or box wrench (don't remember) and gave it a good whack with a hammer.You might have to do it a couple times.
I didn't even have to hold the flexplate or motor from spinning. You do have to use loctite on the bolts when you reinstall them but the best thing is to put new bolts back in.

 

Why would you think "use air tools" is a silly or smart-alec answer?

Unbolt your driveshaft (if you havent already) from your diff housing, remove shaft, and just wheelie your tranny back on whatever you've got holding it up, then impact away. Impact wrenches are definitely bulky and awkward, but ho ho buddy do they make the job easy.

On second thought, it occurs to me that you probably still have your shifter and linkage connnected, in which case, disregard

EDIT: Also, I have to say I'll take the ribbing I might get asking questions here over the fatalist bullsh*t the real-world auto industry is full of any day.

 

Yep. You could use the holes in the plate itself or the holes on the converter where the plate bolts to it. Your choice.
I believe I also used a hammer on the wrench once it was on the bolts to simulate an impact.

 

Thats detrimental to the wrench and jars the heck our of your hands, but it works

 

Its funny your in the exact position im in..

except.

Im in the sand, dug a hole, I jacked my car up on two jack stands.. took drive shaft out, made a makeshift tranny jack (cinder block, giant two by four, and some padding with a floor jack underneath lmfao) It works great by the way lmfao well for my situation. I have barley any room and I keep pulling way to hard and turning the engine.. This is insane.

Im going to try the screwdriver trick many people have been telling me to do that.

Didn't think someone was going to be in the same situation as me xD

 

Check the date of this thread....

I used a small pipe and wedged it into one of the flexplate holes and rotated the plate until the pipe snagged against the transmission and prevented it from rotating.

This was like 2 years ago.

-Steve

 

And yet the solution remains the same.

The screwdriver trick is what has worked for me on several flexplates.

 

Guess what I dont care about?

The date this thread was posted.. not to sound like a dick but hey I was in the same position as you and all you can care about is the time this was posted.

Any way.. Idgaf.. because I just got my CRACKED flex plate off. This is extremely great freaking news because now I don't have to replace my engine. Now im going to smack that stupid *** mechanic in his face with my flexplate for trying to tell me it was the bottom half of my engine

If anyone is wondering how I got it off this is what I did after MANY MANY attempts.

I took pretty much a crow bar.. jammed it in one of the giant holes at an angle then twisted it so it was hitting my frame. That's how I got it to stop.

Then I took my torque wrench, eh its pretty long. Then... the greatest thing I thought of. I took some pvc pipe and made a 'cheater bar' tried pushing on it.. failed like a champ. I dug an even deeper whole, about 3-4 foot. Then I put my legs first and used leg strength, came right off. No, im not a weekling lmfao, it was a horrible angle and there was no way to get leverage where I was at. Unless I dug out under my tire and had my car fall on my head.

Im happy, I don't care if this post is a million years old, and im happy..

did I mention the pure joy pouring out of my eye sockets right now.

If you live in the sand and have to do this, well here is a method that worked for me,

after ever other suggestion. Oh I also used "Deep Creep" by sea foam. Not sure if that did ****.

Im only so happy because I had this car for almost a year, been working on it so ****ing much now I can actually drive it.