ok how the heck to you undo the crank nut

hi

doing the HG and how the hell do you get the crank nut undone , I'm going to need it to put a new timing belt on but its free rotation and unable to lock it ( i used to use gearbox and brakes method but it freely rotates)

tried a air ratchet and same

ideas ?

as going to remove head and leave to take off on re build to save time and get the head back on and then remove the nut with everything built up at this rate....

Are you saying the bolt rotates but the crank stays still?

Is this manual or auto ?

Take out starter motor,get someone to jam flywheel and undue bolt which is very tight

Glow plugs out. big bar and a socket on nut. Crank engine over.

All of the above, I left plugs in and just cranked engine over and it was easy..... easier than taking starter motor out is just to open the flywheel inspection cover for setting timing... keep turning engine until you get the slot in the flywheel.....Just stick a screwdriver in there. I just used this method for torqueing up to 240NM

its rotating , can t lock it, will look in morning as rest of engine is now apart and HG was a metal layer and its failed.... cleaning the faces up to inspect , but it looks like the water ways have failed as long cracks each side. will remove the starter and jam it and undo , as th pulley just keeps rotating as the crank is free. even in gear with brakes on the gear box allows the crank to move...

gt4thug said:

its rotating , can t lock it, will look in morning as rest of engine is now apart and HG was a metal layer and its failed.... cleaning the faces up to inspect , but it looks like the water ways have failed as long cracks each side. will remove the starter and jam it and undo , as th pulley just keeps rotating as the crank is free. even in gear with brakes on the gear box allows the crank to move...

Click to expand...

That sounds like you've got the head off. You must now clamp the liners down to the block BEFORE you rotate the crank, otherwise you will cause the liners to move = very bad and more £££££ to spend.

htr, i'm aware of that, not moving now, needed to make haste and I've got head off, will bolt it all back in THEN move the crank,only got this weekend to strip and rebuild and its a case if once re built i'll lock the crank and undo , its easier to go back to that problem than spend all day trying , so when the heads sorted and bolted back on i'll try again

gt4thug said:

hi

doing the HG and how the hell do you get the crank nut undone , I'm going to need it to put a new timing belt on but its free rotation and unable to lock it ( i used to use gearbox and brakes method but it freely rotates)

tried a air ratchet and same

Click to expand...

I recently put a new head on my Freelander - after setting the timing to remove the old head I left the crank nut alone until the new head was bolted back on ( but clearly you know about this & why it is important).

Once the new head was torqued down I gunned the crank nut off with an impact gun - I didn't have anyone stand on the brakes or lock the fly wheel. The crank didn't move off it's timing marks & the nut cracked off nice & sweet (someone did stand on the brakes with 5th gear engaged when the nut was put back on)

If the crank is rotating when you try to crack it off with an impact gun something is not right - and if you've got someone standing on the brakes with it in 5th & the crank nut rotates but doesn't crack off - hate to be the harbinger of bad news but how much is a bottom end rebuild?

Cheers
Simon

Think about it as two seperate jobs 1, changing the head gasket and refitting the head, 2, undoing crank nut when the head is back on to replace cam belt, tensioner and water pump.

You can get a flywheel locking tool that bolts in place of the starter motor, makes undoing the crank nut easy, i had problems getting mine undone aswell, i tried the brake and car in gear method first but it didn't work so ended up using the locking tool, it's the laser one around £22 on ebay.

This is the one i got.

I bought one of those fly wheel locks - it still sits pristine & unused in the unopened packaging. I paid £22 for it - make me an offer & it can take up space in your workshop

Cheers
Simon

I used a Clarke 240V impact gun (£60 off ebay) to take the crank nut off my MGF. Use it all the time now for different jobs. most recently took the bolts out of the IRD to replace the oil.
Really useful tool.

htr said:

That sounds like you've got the head off. You must now clamp the liners down to the block BEFORE you rotate the crank, otherwise you will cause the liners to move = very bad and more £££££ to spend.

Click to expand...

yeah , no worries on this one, i'd already asked ' how to' and you quite rightly warned me as to liners... and i know these move !

it was a case of i needed to get the head off and i knew once off i could resolve the nut on rebuild, so now i have this , and hopefully rebuild soon, i can then set cams and then use air wrench as long as it takes to unload and remove to build the timing belt back up.

one more comment, or should it be another thread

head bolt torque's as its no a MLS HG whats the torque for these and yes i do have the shim, as the haynes presumes a std HG, i now have a MLS, is it more? different lb in stages or an extra 45-90 degrees... my oversight on this one as i forgot the shim is to take into account the 'gap' and the load will need to be put on accordingly...

this is what i suspect was neglected on the MLS i have removed as it was in reasonable order of a HG with no apparent blows in the channels

gt4thug said:

yeah , no worries on this one, i'd already asked ' how to' and you quite rightly warned me as to liners... and i know these move !

it was a case of i needed to get the head off and i knew once off i could resolve the nut on rebuild, so now i have this , and hopefully rebuild soon, i can then set cams and then use air wrench as long as it takes to unload and remove to build the timing belt back up.

one more comment, or should it be another thread

head bolt torque's as its no a MLS HG whats the torque for these and yes i do have the shim, as the haynes presumes a std HG, i now have a MLS, is it more? different lb in stages or an extra 45-90 degrees... my oversight on this one as i forgot the shim is to take into account the 'gap' and the load will need to be put on accordingly...

this is what i suspect was neglected on the MLS i have removed as it was in reasonable order of a HG with no apparent blows in the channels

Click to expand...

I had that dilemma too. I got good advice of other more knowledgable/experienced contributors on here and I wound up fitting a upgraded elastopolimer gasket as my liners were differing heights [a Payen BW 750]. I used st'd head bolts. I torqued them up initially as per the Haynes manual [20Nm] and then then a sequence of 180º each, followed by a second sequence of 180º each.

The bolt torquing method is slightly different if you fit the later / latest MLS gasket where you should fit the uprated h'bolts with it.

One last point - I didn't fit a shim. My reason was that as the head had been skimmed I had also had the valves enshrouded. Skimming would raise compression and enshrouding would lower it again - a bit. A shim would lower it more. A shim is also another potential area for coolant to leak from.

There are experienced contributors here who will give good advice. Search and ask if you are unsure about something.

The 1.8 is not a bad motor to work on. Good luck.