Toyota Repair: 97 tacoma 2.7 timeing chain replacement, crankshaft pulley, crank pulley

Question
A frind asked for help with a stripped spark plug and started on head teardown before I arrived. He wasnt able to break loose the timing sprocket on the cam and removed the pieces that hold the cams in place. Enter me...Not able to keep timing gears from spinning and break free the cam sprocket bolt and the bolt in harmonic balancer. Someone reccomended feeding a piece of rope into no 1 cylinder and cranking away...is this safe?

Answer
No, that's a stupid idea which can actually bend a connecting rod and cause engine damage, the cams need to be reinstalled and then the crankshaft pulley has to be held in place to remove the bolts, the best way is to use a chain wrench on the crank pulley to lock it in place.