Everyone says the pulleys break very easily. They DO!!! If you use a 3-jaw puller, it puts pressure in just three places at the bottom of the pulley, the absolute weakest place to do it. Trust me, they WILL break!! Even with heat. The way I will describe, the entire pulley bottom is supported, and came right off, without heat or anything.

I found a "trick" that might help. On a lot of the stock ones, the clip that goes behind the pulley and above the bearing, holding the bearing and shaft in place in the housing, has long "tangs". The kit has a regular circlip instead of the one with long tangs. But, if you take needle nose pliers, and sneak up under the pulley, you can release that clip out of the housing towards the pulley, releasing what holds the shaft and bearing in the housing.

Then, don't pull the pulley off.

You press the shaft from the impeller side, pressing it out through the impeller. I used a 6" metal tube, cut about 6" long, for holding the housing, so the pulley and shaft could go down through the tube. The impeller comes off first, then the rest of the shaft, bearing, and pulley are pressed the rest of the way out, leaving you with the pulley still attached to the shaft and bearing. Then, you can press the shaft all the way out with the pulley still attached. The book and directions tell you to pull the pulley first. The advantage of my way, is that the pulley is still attached to the shaft and bearing, then, you can support the pulley with two flat pieces of steel (I used 3/8"), with notches cut out for the shaft, underneath, in effect, supporting the pulley around the entire thing.

I broke 3 pulleys, before figuring it out. I used a 20 ton press, my wifes uncle built, and it worked great on the last pulley. Now, if they've been rebuilt before, and have the regular clip with holes, you can't get to them. Can't help you there...

R

 

Three quarts of kerosene, one quart of automatic trans fluid makes one gallon of rust busting liquid. The trans fluid eats the rust while the kero lubs the threads. worked pretty good for me, its also cheep to make.

 

Looks like my plugs have been around awhile in my 1997 F350 7.5 L. Bought the truck a few years back and only put a couple thousand miles a year on her delivering firewood. A plug blew out while driving and left the threads in the head. I let the mechanic take that one out. Now I have been spraying them plugs for about 3 weeks with PB Blaster and when I tried to remove the first one today the same darn thing happened. I got an easyout in there but nothings movin. Any suggestions? If I gotta do this for the other 6 I am gonna lose my patience with her.

 

I'd try running the engine until good and hot then immediately after shutting it off put ice on the plug getting as little on the head as possible. Try removing the plug while it's still cool and the head hot. Shrinking the plug with the rapid cooling may break it loose. If you can't run the engine to heat it you may be able to heat it around the plug with a propane torch. Work the plug back and forth if you get it to move at all rather than trying to unscrew it all at once to work the penetrating oil into the threads. If they still won't come loose you might have to bite the bullet and pull the head(s) (should take a lot less time than 3 weeks ) so you can drill them out and either get the remnants of the plug out and save the threads or put in a helicoil. Put a small amount of antiseize compound on the threads before installing the new plugs.

 

fORD HAS A TSB ON THIS VERY THING !!

You might want to check on the '97 forum and see the tool/fix you need..

I remember reading about it on another board, but since my ford truck is a few years under that model... it didn't stick in my mind

later
John

 

I had this problem on a 78 that i had, ford man told me that when i installed the plugs that i was NOT tightening the plug enough on install which let carbon buildup on treads causing the problem. took his advice and never had problem again. A little off track of thread but remembered what he said caused it to start with.

 

picked up an aresole of penatrant from walmart that claims it freezes on contact to crack things loose and then penatrates. haven't had a chance to really test it and i don't no if or how flamable it is. but if you got the engine hot and hit them with something like this then try tightening the plug first before attempting to back them out it might be helpful.

 

Nothing to add now. Just keep sending me your tips.

 

When removing a hood or trunk or any two mating parts I take a bolt about an inch longer than the one being removed and cut the head off. Do one for each hinge or as many as needed. When doing a hood take out one of the original bolts and replace with the headless bolt. Then do the other one. Now you can support the hood with a stick or your arm, remove the other bolts and the hood will remain in place until you can take it off.

 

Do we have any publishers on here that would be interested in compiling this stuff into a handy shop referance manual? I think that would be great there tons of useful stuff here.

 

Got a small hole to fill, Use a copper plate at least 1/4" thick as a backer. Then fill your hole from the edge in ,But don't let the copper get to hot, if so just cool with water. It takes a little practice. Works better than using a filler object with the welder.

AJ46

 

As a side note, aluminium works well as backer material too and will help to draw heat out of the thin sheet metal, thus reducing the warp potential of the material being welded.

 

I use a copper backer for welding holes as well, but I make mine from copper water pipe sections. I use 3/4" pipe since I had some leftover lengths handy, cut into ~ 12" lengths. rather than just crushing the end, split it lengthwise about 3" with a cutoff wheel or hacksaw, then open it up and flatten it to resemble a small pancake turner or shovel. The rest of the length you can use as a handle to keep from burning your fingers. I have several with different shapes and angles on the flattened end and different length handles to get in different areas. Make sure the copper or aluminum is tight against the back of the hole before welding, if there is any space, you will get burn thru. If that happens, you will need to grind the back of the panel flat before trying again so the backer can sit tight. If I have a number of holes to fill I keep a pail of water next to me and dunk the copper in it to cool between welds.

 

has any one done a flip front on a '56 F-100. if so, could you please send me the how to's and what to do and what not to does. thanks.

 

That in itself is a good tip. Never thought of that. Guess I'd rather cuss at the hot metal than think of a way of cooling the backer. Thanks for the kick in the AX to smarten me up.