At the moment your video is what I’m following, I guess I’m going to have to make what you did?
My puller worked pretty good but at the end the epoxy let the nut go. It just wasn’t strong enough. So the design can be improved by welding the nut onto the puller.
OK Joe. Will keep that in mind and get it welded.
Thanks mate!
You’re welcome. Happy to help.
Will the shipping be more than the cost of the HB? I have found in the past buying attempts for it to be uneconomical.
No! - a rebuilt HB coming from the USA (eBay) costs $515USD + $107USD shipping to BC Canada - I would be looking at $622US = $822 in Canadian dollars (plus god-knows-what in customs clearance charges and taxes) - admittedly I could get $200US ($266 CAD) refunded for the core but shipping the damn thing back would also cost a fair bit.
-
THAT is what I would classify as “uneconomical”
If I could afford to, or even find somewhere to park the dis-assembled car for the time it would take to remove the HB, mail it to Oregon and have it shipped back rebuilt (estimating 3 weeks turnaround on a good day with customs/taxes etc), that would be ideal … apart from the fact I’d have to rent some wheels in the meantime (Jag is my only vehicle).
I located a good HB in the UK from a fellow enthusiast. His has 90,000 miles on it and he sold it to me for £100 plus £47 express shipping - so cost to my door (shipped this morning BTW) is £147 = $178US = $237 Canadian.
I can live with that - even if I don’t do the job myself, my trusty old Jag guy said 1 to 2 hours so at most I’d only have to shell out $200 for labour and I’d only be without the car for a day.
That was my reasoning, in a nutshell!
(Meanwhile, crossing fingers that the glue job holds till the damn thing arrives!!! 
)
Might be a good time to replace the front seal while you are in there.
1 Like
Wow
Thanks for the breakdown of costs.
Joe, I’m guessing a regular puller like this would work if I used the M8 bolts? (I have one of these already, that’s why I ask)
One more thing - was the socket and breaker bar you used 3/4" or 1/2" drive?
Larry, the puller has to be a shallow design so you can use it comfortably. As long as it fits you can use it. I checked both sockets and they are 1/2" drive.
Thanks Joe, getting the “defensive board” cut and scrounging up some loaner breaker bars/going to the bolt store later today. - I picked up a new impact socket from Amazon will get here tomorrow.
My replacement HB arrived from the UK a few minutes ago.
The HB looks good, so I won’t have to rely on the superglue too much longer!
I was amazed at the speed of shipping, mailed Wednesday in England, postie knocking my door with it Friday morning. 
[quote=“Joe77, post:50, topic:285796, full:true”]
Larry, the puller has to be a shallow design so you can use it comfortably. As long as it fits you can use it. I checked both sockets and they are 1/2" drive.[/quote]
Joe, went to the bolt store today to get the small bolts for the 2 holes in the balancer (for puller) and bought the M8 1.25 x 65mm in the video.
I found they were really hard to thread and started to chew up the balancer threads …checking on another site a poster with an X300 suggested those holes are SAE and tapped 5/16"-18?
Is that what you ended up using?
That is really fast shipping, no doubt. I found both the 60mm and the 65 mm bolts but honestly I don’t remember which one I used. It’s been almost 2 years since I did this job. If I don’t know what size bolt I need, I buy 3-4 different sizes and return the others I didn’t use.
Ok, thanks, no worries, will go to the shop and take the balancer with me next time.
edit: I just came back from the store, the holes in the balancer are 5/16"-18, not metric.
Makes sense as that iron casting on the front was used first on a 1975 XJS and was still in production until at least 1997, if not longer!
Made up a tool to (hopefully!) lock up the balancer …maybe I’ll even try undoing the bolt using it …
Have a nice fat 3/4" drive 1-5/16 socket and a borrowed a 3/4" breaker bar as thick as my big toe …plus pipe accompaniment …just in case …
This is what I made, I hope it works!
1 Like
Just rest the breaker bar against the chassis rail and, with the plugs out, give the starter a crank, this will break the bolt tension.
Right, thanks - I was aware of the “bump” method and I might use that …this tool is more for reassembling (tightening the bolt back up)
Bump went very smoothly, so did my locking tool - worst part of the job was removing and replacing the ribbed belt …on a Canadian 94 we have an air pump which sits directly above the alternator making the adjuster a bit inaccessible - had to remove the adjuster completely to get the belt to slacken off.
Real PIA to reinstall that adjuster! Made the mistake of backing off the outer nut, (almost to the end) so I could give a little more scope to the sliding block. When I did reinstall it and set the tension with the bottom nut, I found I couldn’t move the outer nut down the threaded rod because it was blocked by the air pump adjustment block …
After much dicking around, I finally managed to set the belt tension by prying the two adjusters apart slightly - enough to allow the upper nut to thread down to lock the block.
So don’t back off the outer rod nut too much if you have to do any alternator work …if I’d left it as it was, or just backed it off a bit, the day would have gone by without filling up the swear jar to overflowing.
The actual replacement of the balancer went very smoothly, although I did have to cut a couple of inches of thread off my puller, not enough room to use it full-length.
The balancer I took off was REALLY fried, the rubber was missing chunks and I could turn both pulleys in opposite directions by hand - and I have a hard time opening pasta sauce jars by hand!
Anyway, a long but eventually productive day and best of all no more super glue purchases or clang clang crunch noises. She sounds sweet as can be.
BTW - I pulled the o2 sensor heater relay to stop the car starting when I bumped the starter. I gave her a few cranks to make sure she wouldn’t start before putting the breaker bar in place. After I finished the job and fired her up again, I was greeted with an immediate FF22 - must have flagged when I pulled the relay … I’ll clear it tomorrow morning, enough is enough for one day!
2 Likes
Great to hear that you have had a result.
Glad to hear you’re back on the road. It took me a week because of the rebuilding time and shipping and I also filled up the swear jar quite a few times since I own my car. Part of the Jag experience I guess.