Stubborn Flywheel, Gale 40 hp

[Buccaneer]

I’ve been trying for the last four days to get this flywheel to pop off on
this 1962 40 hp Gale. While “not” an OMC puller, it’s very beefy.
The puller plate is at least 3/4″ steel, and I’m using grade 8 bolts.
I’ve torqued the puller for all she worth using my 1/2″ air impact.
I could not budge it any tighter with an 18″ pipe wrench and bar
holding the flywheel. At one point one of my grade 8 bolts snapped
off almost flush with the flywheel, but I was able to unscrew the
broken stub, and get three shorter bolts.
I’ve tried heat three different times. It’s impossible to concentrate
the oxi / propane torch on the center hub of the flywheel with
the puller on, so I used the cutting torch with a big lazy flame to
shoot across the top of the flywheel, hoping that enough heat
would soak in to do some good, and not “cook” anything like coils.
I’ve also tried rapping on the puller bolt with a ball peen hammer,
I’ve refrained so far from getting my biggest hammer out!
I’ve spray a ton of penetrating oil on the crankshaft area as well.
I’ve even tried a blunt attachment in my air chisel rapping on the
puller bolt, thinking that all that high frequency “ringing” would
pop off the flywheel.
Any suggestions at this point????
Thanks!

Prepare to be boarded!

[amuller]

If it were mine I’d probably raise up the flywheel to the top of the crank end play, and hit the puller screw dead on with a bigger hammer–something like a 4 pound drilling hammer.

When you get a flywheel this stubborn, all bets are basically off.

[Buccaneer]

Thanks for the reply. I tried once to support the flywheels with blocks
and whack the puller, but it was all hap hazard at best. Maybe I’ll
wait until my son comes around………. have not wanted to go
with the 4 pounder yet though, lol.

Prepare to be boarded!

[frankr]

With the puller as tight as possible, get a heavy pry under two sides of the flywheel (to avoid bending it). Then give the center bolt a whack with no bigger than a 16 oz hammer. You probably need an extra hand to help pry and whack at the same time. You are driving the shaft out of the flywheel. If the shaft is not lifted (by the pry), it has nowhere to go, no matter how big a hammer you are pounding it with.
I don’t approve the sledge hammer route. Others will disagree.

[Buccaneer]

Thanks Frank, I’ll look and see if I can find two good opposing spots for pry bars.
No help around today, so I was going to see if I could suspend the power head
in the air via blocks with bar stock, or angle iron under the flywheel, and do some
moderate “whacking”.

Prepare to be boarded!

[squierka39]

The OMC puller uses shoulder bolts which align the puller and flywheel up straight, if you don’t have shoulder bolts with yours maybe put some equal length spacers on your bolts. The straight alignment really helps so the pull is straight up and not cocked, even just a little.

[Buccaneer]

squierka39 wrote:

The OMC puller uses shoulder bolts which align the puller and flywheel up straight, if you don’t have shoulder bolts with yours maybe put some equal length spacers on your bolts. The straight alignment really helps so the pull is straight up and not cocked, even just a little.

I don’t have shoulder bolts, but have been looking on Ebay for some. None say “grade 8″
that I’ve found.
The grade 8 bolts I do have from the local hardware, are probably Chinese made, but
only broke one so far!
There’s 1/2″ of thread on each bolt, so I just screwed them in all the way, and measured
around the puller for equal distance.
Just came in from the garage, and suspended the power head via 5/8” rods under the flywheel,
supported by wood blocking. Still no joyful event. Going to get the torch out again. 🙁

Prepare to be boarded!

[chris-p]

As you have found, the 105/FTLBS Flywheels can be challenging.

Upgrading your puller to the OEM one will help if you plan on continuing in the hobby. Trust me, saves a lot of frustration!

Shoulder bolts help a lot as well if you can find them. A good Fastener Supply House will carry them. I like 7/16″ of thread on mine.

For extra stubborn fly wheels, 2 people helps! Tighten that center bolt TIGHT! putting extensions on the bars will help. My wife has held a 6 foot long fence post once on my bar that hold the OEM puller plate in place, while I had a 6 foot extension bar on the wrench that was on the center bolt. That cracked it! I too had that one blocked up under the flywheel, so that the weight of the motor was pulling down on the flywheel, essentially prying up on the flywheel as Frank mentioned. IF you can get a third person to whack on the center bolt with a 16oz hammer, while one person holds the plate bar and another pulls on the wrench bar, it will pop. If not, I have no idea.

[fleetwin]

I’m with Frank, you must be very careful when pounding on the crank…Keep in mind that when you pound on the crank, you are beating it downward against the crankcase, which can result in subtle damage to the bearings also….That puller looks fairly beefy, but the OMC puller bolt has very fine threads and a long handle that fits into the puller body also….That being said, I know the 40hp flywheels can be a bear, please wear eye protection…

[Buccaneer]

I tried some more this afternoon, using a cheater bar on my 18″ pipe wrench,
heat from the torch, and more wrapping with the one pound pounder.
All I managed to do was break another grade 8 puller bolt. Again, I had just
enough sticking out to be able to unscrew it.
Guess I’ll look for some good shoulder bolts. The plate itself is 3/4″ plate, but
do wish it had a fine thread center bolt.
Thanks again for the tips.
If I don’t have it off by the Tomahawk meet, maybe one of you can show
me how good your OMC puller works. 🙂

Prepare to be boarded!

[Author]

Posts