My uncle broke the power steering pump bracket on my brother's 88 bird when it belonged to my grandmother, he left it broken and jammed it back into place. My brother bought a brand new bracket from the dealer for $7 (cheaper than the junkyard wanted for a used one) for the new motor. Now we can't get the bracket off the pump without cutting the one last bolt and without removing the pulley. The bolt is loose, but it won't back out all the way before it hits the pulley.

The pulley hub has a 3/8" allen in the middle. We held the pulley with some gloves and tried turning the allen CW and CCW, and even put a harmonic balancer puller on it untill just before it would bend the pulley. Then we tried the electric impac gun. It won't budge... maybe I should just cut the bolt and put a shorter one in next time (then there will only be a few threads left to engage).

thanks to any one who knows.

 

lol i cut my bolt when i removed the bracket/pump from my mockup motor. but what u need is a power steering pulley puller.should be a few bucks for one from most parts places, or u could just take it over to most any garage and have them do it for a few bucks
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btw fedex tried to deliver the intercooler to me on friday but i wasnt at the shop when they showed up. so im assuming they will try again on monday

 

thanks for the tip. I usually do whichever is easier in this type of situation, which will be cutting the bolt.
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and thanks for the update

 

believe it or not, using the puller is easier!

It's free too, if you rent it from autozone or advance. you pay a deposit and then get your money back when you bring it back!

 

You can rent a puller from a store. The pulley is pressed on there really tight.

 

I think the port-a-band might be a little easier than driving 3 city miles to the store, and 3 city miles back... twice. I'm getting lazy on this car. I guess I'll wait and see if I need something from the store anyway before I chop it off.

 

well, you're gonna have to remove the pulley anyway to reinstall the bolt, so why is trying to cut it off easier than drive a total of 12 miles to get the right puller/installer?

It seriously takes 5 minutes to pullit and then reinstall it if you have the right tools. Plus the fact that you're not gonna break something else in the process.

 

all good/true reasons to use a puller, which I may still, but I'd just use a shorter bolt next time... I have few laying around.

 

not the cheaopest way, but take it to a garage and have them remove it from the old one and install it onto the new pump bracket. May not be the chepaest, but it is the easiest way....you dont do anything!

 

good point, but like everyone else, there's a really tight budget. Plus i'd have to remove the hoses from the unit (its attached to the car), which could be more work than just cutting the bolt, and more money if a hose breaks or something goes wrong (and something always goes wrong).

by the time i talked about it, I could have done all three methods! I just don't have access to the car untill later today.