I have a 2002 Montero Limited. I am trying to remove the crankshaft pulley. I removed the bolt and a thick washer. I took the washer off and put the bolt in with only 3-4 threads so I could use a puller against it. I hooked up the puller with it's three jaws around the pulley and started turning the center shaft. It pulled the pulley but is also pulling the timing belt gear with it. What should I do? I don't want to pull the gear off. Did I do something wrong? I'm not sure how long ago the pulley was last removed but it has been a long time.

 

Under normal circumstances you should not need any pullers to remove the crankshaft pulley. It should come out on its own. You probably have some corrosion that fused it to other things. Try to use some penetrating oil on it and let it soak for some time. Then tap around it with a rubber mallet to gently loosen it up.

 

Thanks for the reply HunterD. I removed the timing belt by loosening the tensioner and then proceeded to pull the whole assembly out including the timing belt gear. After soaking it in penetrant, I was able to separate the timing belt gear from the pulley. The alignment pin was heavily corroded and stayed in the pulley instead of the timing gear. The timing gear slipped right back on the crank so it looks like everything is ok. Just need to get a new pin and cleanup some of the corrosion.