Pontiac Repair: 99 Grand am Harmonic Balancer, deg c, impact gun

Question
Hi Todd,
 I am replacing a harmonic balancer on my brothers 99 Grand Am 3.4 liter. The pulley came off on a cold ( -47 deg C ) day. I have remove it with the proper puller and an impact gun. Is there any thing that I should be aware of when installing a new one? I had planed to drive it on with an impact on the retaining bolt. If using an impact is not the solution, how would I lock the crank to prevent it from turning when using hand tools?


Cheers,
Mike

Answer
Hey Mike:

No there really is nothing to worry about but using the bolt to install the balancer is not the correct way to do it. Ther is a tool called a harmonic balancer installer. It actually threads into the crank and then a jam nut pressed it onto the the endo of the crank. The issue you can run into it stripping the threads on the bolt or worse stripping the threads in the crank. I would check with you local auto parts store to see if they ret that tool. The right to for the right job :) Good luck :}