enos44

I've been seeing a lot of horror stories on wobbling harmonic balancers throwing belts and ruining seals and bearings and was wondering if this is happening to me? My belt will start squeaking every other weak or so, then I clean it and it goes away for another weak or so. My car does have over 160,000 and I'm not sure if this is the original or not. Thanks

vsocks1

Hard to see from the video but it does appear to wobble. In my opinion any wobble is not good!

csexton

Chuck

FRCTony

Every stock damper I've seen has some visible wobble. How much is too much is the question. Hard to tell in the video but that doesn't look like much.

I replaced mine with a new stock unit and it appeared to me to wobble just as much...

enos44

Thanks for the replies. I was looking at it the other day and just started to get paranoid and afraid to drive. I will probably just change it out this summer.

vsocks1

My stocker has no visible wobble...so it is possible! I will be replacing it soon though when doing my head/cam. Only 10,000 miles on it though!

C4B4the04

I'd swap it, but thats just me. Probably fine for a while but why risk it? Its your vette man.

Got my replacement Powerbond one on that auction site for 78 bucks. My stock one wobbled about as much as yours (44K miles) and I am going to be on the track this season.

FWIW, I used a new stock bolt. I have heard stories about the aftermarket one backing out. If you torque the stock one CORRECTLY (its like 38 ft pounds then 140 degrees of rotation) you shouldn't have a problem. My .25 on the deal. I have put a few of these in/on and I don't see the appeal of the reuseable bolt. The new OEM one is 5 bucks.

Hope that helps, might want to pin it while you are down there....sure can't hurt.


Cassidy

FRCTony

If you stare at it really, really, hard...you'll see it

timemender

Don't forget to use RED Locktite on the bolt along with the proper torque.

VGLNTE1

leave it. watch the bolt. If the pulley isnt backing off its fiine. People blow things out of porportion.

also watch the seal. make sure no oil is coming out

K RIPPER

Harmonic balancer,whats it do? it's primary job is to cancel harmonics or vibration(also known as vibration dampener) in the recipricating assembly(pistons crank rods and everything else that moves inside the engine) and without it the internal parts would self destruct,rod and main bearings would fail ,crankshafts would crack.In a nutshell the balan cer does a little more than just provide a place for the accessory drive belt.It's a simple piece, justa piece of metal for the center core a piece of vulcanized rubber to attach an outer ring of metal but its important and with all the miles on your ride and the wobble you see it's probablly failing and could actually fly apart.If this were my car I would not drive it until I replaced it as the potential for disaster is real.It can be replaced w/a stock one for modest $$$ if funds are low or go for the gusto and get a SFI approved one.Almost all classes in NHRA require an approved balancer as the stock ones when pushed have a tendancy to blow apart, but then again we don't push our vettes ,do we?? PS locktite the bolt on and make sure it's torqued to specs and install w/a harmonic balancer installer DO NOT HAMMER IT ON OR USE THE BOLT TO PULL IT ON

knyght4

I'm not sure about that much wobble on a balancer, but I destroyed my AC compressor that way. Over time, it simply got worse and the belt was starting to slip off.

jimcork1

Mine had 83K on it and has less wobble. However it is stock and I was wondering if it were going to throw the damper. Then I just decided to watch it and drive on. That was at 60K and now at 83K the wobble doesn't appear any worse. Guess this weekend on the track will tell. Last time on the track I took a quick look at the tach out of a turn and saw 5900 on the tach. So tomorrow....

VGLNTE1

mine wobbles, and it sees 7200 all the time...

FRCTony

Exactly! There is a big difference between the bolt backing out, and the outer pulley ring slipped. As long as the belt is wearing normally and running true, it is nothing to worry about.

On a NA motor, it's very rare to see the damper bolt back out, unless you reinstall the old bolt after a cam install.

If you are the paranoid type, mark the bolt head. If it moves, then you have a problem.

Out To Lunch

Would you explain "pin it" to me?

Thanks,
Don

wcsinx

Hard to tell from your vid

When you guys are saying that you see wobble, are you actually verifying there's an in-out movement on the pulley? I ask because I thought mine was wobbling, but it turned it was just kind of a optical illusion being caused by discoloration on the pulley (slight stains and surface oxidation on the rim). I created a makeshift caliper with a scribe on the end of a pipe, and with the engine idling I touched it very lighting to the outer surface of the balancer. It drug evenly around the entire circumference of the balancer.

TEXHAWK0

Sometimes if you are looking at the pulley at an angle, the polished ribs of the pulley make it appear to wobble, but if you focus just on the edge of the pulley, it will be running true.
From this video, I would not say you have a problem.

ZeeOSix

Suggest re-shooting the video, but next time put a flashlight or trouble light on the subject matter. It is pretty hard to get a good read on the wobble assessment.

C4B4the04

Sure,

Pretty straight forward...back in the old days, the cranks had a keyway for a drift key. This would allow the balancer to be "locked" from rotation around the crank. The brilliant minds at GM stopped this practice on these motors, so under EXTREME load these balancers can literally spin on the crankshafts. So....you can buy or borrow the pinning fixture from a forum site (like this one) and mount a metal bracket 1/2 on the balancer and 1/2 on the crank. It screws into the front of the balancer and you simply drill a 1/4 inch hole about 3/4 of an inch into the two of them. Pull out the drill and hammer in a round metal dowel. New bolt into the crank (with RED loctite), arm breaking amount of torque and you are good to go.

If you EVER plan, think about, consider, etc. doing a supercharger this is a MUST. My 04 and my 00 both have it, just in case (the 04 is a retired garage queen so thats unlikely). The 00 will see track days for the rest of its life, so that one was a no-brainer.

HTH, you can also do a search on here about how-to tutorials. I borrowed the tool from someone on the forums, if that helps.

Cassidy