I seem to remember getting the main pulley bolt off with a 6 ft piece
of jack handle over a 1/2" socket drive and having my wife standing on
the block for stability.   The block was on the concrete floor of my
garage.  I may have used some additional weight and pieces of wood to
stabilize the block.  I remember that it only took a couple of minutes
and that the wife was surprised that she didn't have to do much except
balance for a minute

If the problem is stopping the rotation of the pulley, you can stop it
a tool (I don't have it) or by bolting some scrap metal to the pulley.
  I think there is an explanation in the John Muir book and probably a
more thorough description in the list archives.

On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 17:18:02 -0500, Ken Winsor <kwinsor@stny.rr.com> wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> I'm hoping for a little advice.  I have the engine out of my '88 Westy (2.1 WBX) and it's in my basement.  Initially, I was just going to replace the heads, clutch, water pump, ..... but since I have the engine out, I've decided I'll split the case and measure up the crank, and replace the bearings if required.
>
> Well, I have a little problem.  I don't have a fancy engine stand (unless you consider a wood crate fancy) and I can't get the leverage needed to remove the pulley bolt.  Specifically, I don't have the means of anchoring the engine while I apply the required torque.    So I was thinking about splitting the case and just removing the crank with  the pulley still attached, and after it's out, take it over to a local machine shop and have them remove it.  Is that a reasonable approach?  Also, I have to ask this silly question  ........ is the bolt a standard left-hand thread to remove?  Any other suggestions?
>
> Thanks all!
>
> Ken
>