The rope in the cylinder and floor jack breaking bar trick to loosen flywheel.

O

OLD ROOKIE

Go Slow and Wave at Your Neighbors.
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Has anybody ever tried this ? I needed to pull the flywheel on my 2003 Mercury outboard. The Mercury Shop Manual did this job with a special strap I'd have to order. I heard somewhere about sticking a rope in the cylinder so the pistons couldn't turn over. Worked well on a 60 hp outboard and a 14hp Honda compressor motor. I used thinner nylon rope-like 3/16 diameter. The rope was long enough so a couple feet was left out of cylinder. Smooth as a butter. Used a Mercury flywheel puller ($12), 1/2" breaking bar and a 1/2 of a metal floor jack handle (slipped over the handle of the breaking bar for leverage) on the .outboard

My no-it-all neighbor had a bitch of a time getting the blade of his 18hp lawn tractor. He didn't believe me when I told him to try a rope. So he spent his afternoon wrestling with the task.

Regards and Happy Thanksgiving Crew
 
Used to do that before impact guns became common and affordable. I think it still has its place if you get stuck. 2 stroke engines are better suited to using the rope trick. With 4 stroke engines you need to be careful about valve orientation.
 
I've filled the cylinders with rope to jam the valves shut when replacing valve stem seals. Works every time on engines where it works (in other words, some engines are a bitch to get it to work, because of access).
 
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