Best bought or homemade - DIY crankshaft pulley tools
 

I own 4 generation-3 full size Monteros and recently changed the timing belt and VLAs on one of them. That first time was a real cruise down B.5 street!

I bought the timing belt tensioner pulley tool for $20 because it was such a small area to fit anything else. Glad I bought that because kinda a pain to get right otherwise.

Now the crankshaft pulley / harmonic balancer is easy to get off using the starter, but getting it on without a good tool to hold the pulley as one applies 136 ft-lb torque is a toasted PITA! I managed to getter done with a pry bar with a welded notch on it but it kept slipping after about 100 ft - lbs.

I was thinking of buying the special tool but then started looking at other avenues that would be better for many cars, not just my 1999+ 3.5L and 3.8L Montero years.

I saw one that looked OK...it looked like a 4" wide, 2" thick, maybe 4' piece of lumber with two screws set through it that threaded into the pulley "hold" holes. The end then could be braced against ground or across upper body piece...anywhere to prevent spinning while bullying that torque wrench. There's a hole bored through the middle to put the socket through.

Anyone have suggestions on a versatile DIY homemade or store bought tool for bracing pulleys to fasten or remove? The best all-in-one type tool for pulleys I guess.