Hi all. New to the message board. I have a '98 legacy outback and have the classic oil pump seal leak (need to replace the "black" seal with the updated "brown" seal). My question is pretty simple -- is the bolt which holds the drive pulley on the front of the crankshaft a standard right hand thread or a left-hand thread? It is damn tight and I do not want to tighten it even more with the impact wrench. Thanks.

To get it off get a breaker bar with a 13/16 socket from memory and rest the bar on the LH "chassie rail" and crank the car for a sec BUT DONT START THE CAR IF YOU DO SHUT IT DOWN IMMEDIATLY!!! you should have to do this 3 maybe 4 times depending then undo it like a normal bolt. Hope that helps.

RH, and I believe it's 7/8, or 22mm.

22mm sounds right, standard bolt righty tighty lefty lucy. i like that idea, but breaker bar on frame rail and turn over engine, just unplug the engine harness plugs, they should be behind the motor, that will keep it from starting.

 

 

 

 

 

~Josh~

Last time I took one off I put two 1/2" bolts (2 1/2" long) in adjacent holes on the pulley, wedged a crow bar between them and used that to hold it while loosened the bolt with a breaker bar. Using adjacent holes there was just enough room to get the socket in. Tightened it the same way.

 

Tom

put it in fifth gear if manual

put it in park if auto

and crank way

put it in fifth gear if manual

put it in park if auto

and crank way

"Crank away"??? Are you talking about applying pressure on a breaker bar (auto-tranny, the engine will just spin), or crank the starter (manual, the car will leap forward)?

 

I have done the breaker bar and starter, but always felt nervous about it; not really a safe way to do it. I like the 2 bolts and the crowbar as a brace. I really like the 1/2" impact wrench.

I've always liked the idea of putting the car in gear (never had an AT) and turning the bolt with a breaker bar.

 

Cranking the engine seems common, and a lot of people seem to do it without incident but I would only use this method as a last resort.

 

Impact gun? I don't know if this is such a good idea on the crank - ?

 

You can also use something to lock the flywheel. Subaru makes a special tool for this, but perhaps something can be fabricated to safely hold the flywheel in a similar fashion.

 

When I replace the bolt I always line the inside of the pulley (the surface that mates to the crank and keyway) with anti-sieze and put some loc-tite blue on the bolt. This helps keep the bolt in and makes for easy removal of the pulley next time.

 

-Heikki

I suppose everyone has their own methods :-\ What works, works so stick to it. i prefur the metod i described and that is how we do it at the dealership eventhough we have the special tool. we just use it for doing it back up.

 

 

Find the way you prefer and stick to what you feel comfortable doing