In addition to what other posters said, there is a trick where u put rope into a cylinder- that only works if the belt is still on I believe. But I'd say it's nearly impossible without someone to help- it took everything me and my helper had to get it off.
Good luck,
Nathan

Well, I got the gear off. I put the t belt back on and then wapped the wrench with a hammer. I haden't done it originally becaue I thought it would hurt the belt. Thanks for the advise. Anything experience with the valves?

JS

Nope, sorry.

I've held the gear with a rubber strap wrench which I bought at Sears. That tool has been much more useful than I expected.

I'm replacing the headgasket on a 88 740T. I have everything ready to come off except I cannot get the cam gear bolt and spacer to loosen without turning the camshaft. What works the best?
Also, I am considering having the valves gound once the head comes off since the car has a lot of miles but I was warned that doing so may cause the car to pull oil past the rings and burn it due to the increase in vacuum. I feel pretty confident that the rings are still good at 244k. Maybe I shouldn't be. Has anyone had their valves ground on an engine with high milage? What were the results?
Thanks,

JS

Did you happen to do a compression test before disassembling? Or do you have reason to believe that you have a weak cylinder (compression wise)?. Unless I thought I had a weak cylinder I would not do a valve job on an engine with 244K. I've got an 88 244 with 260K and it runs fine and I don't think about what the compression might be because it is running so well. I think I agree that you might in fact be inviting trouble by doing a valve job because it almost certainly would raise the compression and increase the blow by at the rings. I think I would look at it as what I gained by doing the valves would be lost to rings with 244K. This is based less on knowledge and more on gut feeling and I may be wrong. Wild guesses are free, right?

Randy

Methinks that the crank pulley locking tool's teeth fit into the holes in cam and idler gears. You do have the crank pulley locking tool, right? If not, buy it right away. It makes things so much simpler.

Oh boy, why oh why didn't you remove the gear first :)

Cheers, Kuba

You need to lock the gear with something- usually what I do, if an impact wrench is not available, is to leave the timing belt on, and wedge something into the gear & belt at about the 5-o-clock position, then try to loosen the bolt. If the head is already off, you could probably rig up a way to hold the gear using the old belt, and maybe a C-clamp or visegrip to keep the belt from turning. A second pair of hands is probably needed here to avoid making other problems.
A strap wrench is another great tool- either the nylon belt type used for plumbing or even the kind for removing oil filters. Again, another person would help keep things in place while you remove the bolt.
Sometimes a sharp rap on the wrench with a hammer will help break it loose. Good luck!
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '87 244DL/M47- 221K, 88 744GLE- 202K, 91 244 181K, 88 244GL 145K