Locks the flywheel or flex plate so you can turn the engine over by hand or hold it dead still while you torque the converter, flywheel, or balancer bolts.
Pulling a transmission or clutch means you have to fight the engine to hold still, and doing that with a screwdriver jammed in the ring gear is how you chip a tooth or slip and bark a knuckle. This is the tool that does it right. The head hooks into the flywheel or flex plate ring gear teeth, and the long handle gives you the leverage to either rotate the engine over a tooth at a time to line up the torque converter bolts, or lock everything solid while you break loose and torque the converter, flywheel, or harmonic balancer bolts to spec.
When you are dropping an automatic, you have to spin the flex plate to reach each of the converter-to-flex-plate bolts through the inspection cover, and this turner walks the engine around cleanly so you get to every one without crawling back and forth to bump the starter. Reviewers have held flex plates and flywheels steady while torquing balancer bolts past 100 ft-lbs and outboard flywheel nuts to 115 ft-lbs with no slip and no flex, which tells you the alloy steel head and handle are the real thing, not a stamped part that bends the first time you lean on it.
It folds down for storage so it is not eating a whole drawer, and it fits the common flywheel and flex plate sizes across most cars, light trucks, and even outboard motors. One note from the field: the head is spring loaded, so stand to the side of the handle when you put your weight into it, not in line with it, in case the tip pops off the gear. Buy it once and it lives on the bench next to your converter bolts and clutch alignment tools. Alloy steel, 18.1 inches long.
| Function | Turns and holds flywheels and flex plates |
| Use | Rotating engine to reach converter bolts, holding to torque flywheel and balancer bolts |
| Material | Alloy steel |
| Length | 18.1 inches, folds for storage |
| Fits | Most cars, light trucks, and outboard motors |
