Harmonic Balancer Removal 302

[MikeW]

I have a 1996 302 in a Bronco. Do I need to place a strap on the pulley or will I be able to free the nut with a breaker bar without rachet strap?
Right hand or left hand threads? I do have a puller after all bolts are romoved.

[milan65]

Hi, it's regular right hand (to tie it down) bolt. The strap on pullye will not be enough. You need to put a clamp around the pulley and use breaker bar with a pipe on it. Or use big size pipe wrench if you have one. I did mine last weekend. It took a lot of power to loose that bolt. I killed one of my clamps (from Habour Freight) doing it. Yes you need to use puller to take it out. the one form Autozone works fine but the bolts supplied with the puller are useless. Milan

[sackman9975]

Getting the front bolt out can be tricky. My method is to put the 15/16 socket and ratchet on the bolt. Have a pipe handy and position the ratchet on the drivers side to unloosen. Slip pipe onto the ratchet and rest it on the floor. Then just bump the starter. The bolt will then be loose. Make sure to remove the washer as well that's with the bolt. Not doing so, and you'll break the balancer.

[95F1504x4EB]

This method works like butter.

I removed the balancer pulley before doing this, so I could see better. I also removed the coil wire to ensure the engine would not start.

[3speed]

To remove the balancer...you'll need a simple cheap puller. I had a flywheel puller for small engines that worked perfectly.

On the big bolt...to remove I just used my 3/8 impact gun and it came right loose. To retighten...I installed two long bolts in the tapped holes and used a decent sized Napa pry bar (with handle) between the two. Then torqued using my trusty torque wrench.