M62 crank holding tool help / advice please

Hi everyone, I'm in the process of replacing the timing chain and guides on my 2004 L322 (M62 engine). All was going swimmingly until I got to the crank pulley bolt (aka the Jesus bolt, and for good reason). My impact wrench (rated at 450nm, mains powered as I don't have a compressor) isn't man enough for the job. That thing is in there as tight as a gnat's chuff.

What I'm after is either some advice on what make / model of impact wrench will do the job (please god there's something cheaper that the £270 DeWalt), or a lend of the crank holding tool to lock the thing in place while I feel that special sweaty fear you get when swinging off the end of a breaker bar and 6' of scaffold pole. Or even a lend of a serious electric impact wrench.

In return I can offer a lend of the timing tool set I've already shelled out for, or an extra pair of hands if anyone needs them. I also make a cracking cup of tea.

I'm near Hitchin, Herts. Thanks in advance!

This is what i bought - i am a bit far from you, i would get yourself one or make something that bolts to the crank pulley, don't rely on the flywheel locking tool.
if you have a look at my timing chain thread you can see i had a 5 ft breaker bar and a 3/4 drive socket and bar which broke when i did the new stretch bolt back up.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161280308528

That is not a bonnet prop, it is a the breaker bar !
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-ro...iming-chain-guides-starts-today.305798/page-2

Jeepers, you broke the bar or the socket or both?

Has anyone ever even heard of successfully undoing one of these with impact?

A work colleague has a 1 1/2" drive hydraulic driven impact wrench that takes two people to hold....and I think that *might* just do the job, but it needs 415V 3Ø power to run the hydraulic power pack and a small truck to carry it all in.....is used for structural bolts on buildings, cranes, and ships.....

I doubt any pro or consumer hand held impact drivers will do it, unless you have a serious passion for the large 1" drive Snap-On stuff.....

Swinging on a length of scaffold is the cost effective way.

This is basically what i did, i had a 3/4 drive swivel head bar rather than a sliding T bar and the swivel end broke when i was tightening the bolt but luckily it was on the final few degrees of tightening.

As with many youtube vids the camera man is on a unicycle

Wow. Thanks guys, looks like I'd better get me the holding tool. I'll come back with a grunt-by-grunt report...

Long bar = low grunt
I loosened the bolt before locking the timing and undoing any of the vanos so i could still turn the engine over by hand if i needed to position the holding tool.
You can see on the attached that a small block of wood worked perfectly to allow the tool to avoid the anti roll bar and not damage anything. Once it is loose you can lock everything or if you have already taken off the top end then just make sure you don't turn over the engine and pack the holding tool out so it can't move and stress the flywheel holding tool.

Wip out thé starter motor and lock the flywheel..
https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-SE...497305&hash=item542c1baca7:g:ZCkAAOSwPAxaEE7c
Something like this will help.

The problem with the flywheel on these is they are made out of the finest sheet metal rather than a big lump of steel or cast iron. All they are is a starter ring and i have heard of people undoing the crank bolt just using the locking pin but if it goes wrong and the engine is untimed it could be curtains. The locking tool shown above might do it but as you can see from the pic below the recommended tool is not going anywhere as it is a bit of a lump. The pliers are just for reference, they probably wouldn't help much.

holidaychicken said:

The problem with the flywheel on these is they are made out of the finest sheet metal rather than a big lump of steel or cast iron. All they are is a starter ring and i have heard of people undoing the crank bolt just using the locking pin but if it goes wrong and the engine is untimed it could be curtains. The locking tool shown above might do it but as you can see from the pic below the recommended tool is not going anywhere as it is a bit of a lump. The pliers are just for reference, they probably wouldn't help much.
View attachment 140395

Click to expand...

I think yours is the better idea!

Whatever works i guess, if my life depended on it i would be jamming a screwdriver down the spark plug hole if it got the bolt out

If I recall correctly I used the pulley as a template and used 1/4" steel flat. Drilled the appropriate holes and ground out the center part as required. I made it long enough to hit the floor to prevent movement. Then I used an 3/4" breaker bar attached to an 7 foot old fence post. My 1/2" breaker bar had too much flex.

Thanks everyone.

Yes, YouTube is crawling with demonstrations of the starter motor trick, but no L322s at all (I've looked). Shudder to think what would happen ...

I think I'll look into a serious new breaker bar, maybe 1". Hopefully then it will outlast more than one bolt!

With luck I'll have a chance to get back at it later this week.

A sliding T handle bar would be stronger i think as it was the swivel head part of my 3/4 bar that finally gave way. It wasn't expensive at all and it did the job but i would rather it had lived to fight another day ....

Right, 3/4" T-bar and holding tool are ordered and on the way. Chicken, those don't look like the standard bolts, are they some sort of high tensile thing?

If you use cap heads (allen key} they are hight tensile

They weren't anything special, i'm not sure if they were the ones from the pulley or some others i had kicking about but you wont shear them if you use 4 and they don't even need doing up super tight. You are trying to shear them rather than stretch them but if you want to use high tensile it wont hurt.

Got it off! Thanks everyone for the advice - holding tool, 3/4" t-bar and about 5' of scaffold pole did the trick. Now for the timing chain guides and to locate any dodgy lifters.

Does anyone know where to get second hand lifters? I see sets of many on eBay but shouldn't need more than a couple I hope.

If your going to the trouble of taking it apart - the M62 deserves new surely!!

You make a good point, but I can't stretch to replacing the whole lot with new at the moment . Thinking to sort the noise now and replace them all next time I have it apart...