Well being the smart guy I am - I decided to do a pre-emptive strike on my Son's 94 maxima and replace the timing belt, water pump and front seal.

Armed with a great pulley puller and a Air Ratchet capable of 450LBs of torque I got the pulley off in short order.

After removing the cover etc.. I tried to pry the timing sprocket off the crank (as the book says) with a couple of screwdrivers. Since there isn't enough room between the engine case and the sprocket to put a puller - my Maxima Book suggested drilling out the Sprocket - tapping the holes and using a screw in puller.

All went well drilling and tapping a couple of holes in the sprocket. - I bolted on a harmonic balancer puller and began cranking it down with my air ratchet -- To make a long story short.. Two hours later the sprocket is about 75 percent removed and one of the 8mm bolts broke.

This thing is on here like it was pressed on.

I'm getting another start on it today - going to drill two more holes in it - tap them out and use 10mm hardened bolts - This mother is coming off of here and there is no turning back now.

The moral to this story - if your front oil seal isn't leaking, and your timing sprocket doesn't fall off in your hand - don't mess with it.

 

yup been there done that. i pretty much had to cut the sproket in 1/2 and it still gave me a hard time to pull out. when you get it out i'm sure you'll see a good deal of rust on the crank snout.

 

glad i have the timing chain....

 

I was taking all the front cover timing stuff off of my old VE motor. The crank chain sproket assemblies are not pressed it. They just slide on/off. It's held in place with a key and another "plate". The only thing pressed fit on was the front crank pulley. Just something you might find interesting.

 

As a side note I just ordered the replacement sprocket from Nissan - since my book says not to use the one I drilled out.

Cost 48.00 and he has to order it. Guess the kid is going to be walking for a couple of days.

I wonder if heating this up with a torch would make it come off easier.

Flame on...

 

probably so..

either that or hold dry ice on it for 20-30 minutes, then whack it with a hammer.

 

wow, I'm glad mine wasn't frozen on. It slid right off.

 

Day 2 of the sprocket removal project ---

Today I got 2 8mm x 1.25 - case hardened bolts - drilled holes completely through the sprocket - tapped them out... screwed on my harmonic balancer puller ---


Then banged on it with my 450 lb PSI Air Ratchet until it broke through the sprocket - at this point the end of the sprocket was flush with the end of the crank.

I drilled two more holes completely through the sprocket -- bolted it back up and banged on it until I actually stripped out the main shaft of the puller.

At this point the Sprocket was 1/2 of the way off the end of the Crankshaft.

Tomorrow - I'm buying another puller - and by god this f*&^% is coming off.

The new sprocket will be here wednesday and this mother is going to be off by then...

BTW - the crank does look kind of rusty under where the sprocket was located... go figure

 

Keep rocking dude, sounds like your doing a great job from here!!!

"glad I have the timing belt"


HA! just kidding.


Do well.

 

Dang, that is some brutal battle you have putted up with. I would clean that off w/wd40 and put some synthetic multipurpose greases or antiseize over it. I know how you felt, man. I remembered when I had to fight the strut knuckle bolts to get it off so I could change my front right strut and spring and it was so biatched. I ended up cutting that damn thing off and wacked it out with two large hammers. This is why I hated rusts so much, everytime I see rusts on a bolt, nuts, or joints, I just whip some antiseize or grease over it.

 

well once you have clearance behind the sprocket get a 2 leg puller. get the legs behind the gear..then partially screw in the crank bolt. you'll notice there's a dimple in the crank bolt..perfect for your puller center bolt. then get your hand tool and go to town.

BTW a 3 leg puller using only 2 legs might be easier.. the angle the puller might fit better in the workable area.

 

Finally - and I mean finally - The sprocket is on the ground.

I have never seen the need for a hydraulic gear puller before - but this was where one was needed. I almost sprung for the hundred bucks to get one.

I did go through 1.5 harmonic balancer pullers at a cost of about 20 bones.

Total this took about 4 hours to get off. (Over 3 days.)

I had every puller known to man (and autozone) on this thing.. No Joy.

I'm going to keep the mauled sprocket forever just to remind myself why I should just pony up the money and have Nissan do Timing belts from now on.

 

LOL!!
Glad you got it removed though. talk about a PIA!

 

you have seen the enemy, and it is yours.....