[mckinnon]

hi everyone I have a 97 intrepid sport 3.5 would like to replace my water pump & timing belt as well. Paid for the balancer removal and I'm stuck on one thing. Do I remove the bolt first and put the 3jaw clamp second.Alot of people gave me a number of thing to do but i don't want to make a mistake with the timming I do have a haynes manual to guide me through it.But Ive
never done this before.By just read some of the threads everyone has encounter something other than this.

please help

[Hypnos]

Let me start by saying that you do not have to remove this pulley to change out the timing belt. You can leave it on if you want. You just have to work around it.

1. Remove the radiator
2. Loosen the bolt, but leave it on
3. Install the 3 arm puller
4. Start tightening the puller bolt
5. You might need a longer bolt to replace the stock crank pulley bolt to get the puller to pull it the last bit of the way.

[mckinnon]

hypnos thank I will try this on the weekend

[jakeoooooo]

Let me relay my experience. When I did it I just assumed to take off the balancer since that is what the manual said. Later, I saw in this site that people have worked around it.
I had trouble with the depth of the hook part of the puller I borrowed from Autozone having enough room to get behind the balancer. It was too "beefy." I ended up buying a cheap one from Pepboys that got the balancer out a bit, and that puller got all bent up and unusable from that. Then I was able to get the heavy duty puller behind to finish pulling it all the way out. I ended up returning the bent tool and told them it was defective. I guess it depends on the design of various pullers, but you need one that is strong enough and has clearance.

[ladelberg]

I removed the balancer and did not pull the radiator - I removed the fans and unbollted it and pushed it forward gently and that gave enough room to get the balancer off. The only issue I had a was the length of the bolt in the puller, need to make sure it fits. I have a pretty heavy duty puller and the box is long gone but it fit in there and was able to get it out with minimal aggravation.

Hynos has of course produced the textbook answer which is always the safest.

[Hypnos]

The one I bought from autozone was like that too. It fit when I took off the pulley the first time. But after I must of driven the pulley deeper when I put it back on, because it didn't fit the second time. A little bit of grinding on the ends solved that.

[gr8crash]

like hypnos said you don't have to take the balancer off, i've done a coupel belts with leaving it on and never had a problem. and liek oooo i forgot who it was and am lazy to scoll up, you can just unbolt the radiator and tilt it forward that will give you enough room as well.

[mckinnon]

thanks for all the input from everyone will try this weekend without removal
of the balancer.almost forgot what kind of sealant you use for the waterpump
i have form.a gasket sealant its that brown -hit that looks like-hit

[flowersc]

Good write-up. I plan to replace my timing belt and water pump when I do the trans. Might as well right?

[gr8crash]

the pumps don't use any sealant, just the o-ring that comes with it