Blue Bandit

Harmonic Balancer Advise-Where To Get It Done
I have a 2006 coupe LS2. My first vette. I have 60k miles. Bought car a year ago with 40k miles. Reading several articles here on the forum, I came across the harmonic problem. I do have a slight wobble. Stupid me, the extended warranty that I transferred ran out on Jan 18. Yes, I know, stupid me. At any rate, I took the car in for an oil change 2/13 at Penske Chevrolet in Carmel, Indiana. And I asked them for their opinion about the balancer. (by the way, Penske has given me great service). They believed that it is getting worn, even though I don't have the inevitable chirping yet. They felt I will need to change it in the somewhat near future. So, I need the advice of you experienced corvette owners. I don't race or track the car, just street, but am willing to spend more dollars for a better setup than OEM, if possible. I asked the dealership for an estimate, and they said around $1,070. I called Lingenfelter service center, (which is about 2 hours North of me) and the salesman guessed around $1,000. The Salesman at Linkenfelter in his opinion felt like I should use the OEM part since I don't track, etc. He didn't seem overly knowledgeable about the balancer problems as I have read here. So the question: For quality, performance, and especially dependability, should I go to an aftermarket part, like ATI, should I use different belts as I've read in the forum, a different tensioner, etc. or just OEM parts? Is there anything else I should have done while they have this apart? Does anyone else know of a service center in Indiana that I could possibly use? Thanks for your help.

stanklr

As far as what I know, if you go with the OEM HB you will need to change it in the future for the same issue (There is something wrong with the OEM part that GM is still didn't fix).
So you better go with ATI part as it's known to fix this issue, also it will give you more of quality, performance, and dependability that you are looking for compared to the OEM.

GL

MikeERWNC

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400287215353...84.m1439.l2649

I just picked this one and it arrived yesterday.
I have 67K miles now on my 2007 and mine is ready to be replaced. I plan on doing it tomorrow.
I went with steel simply because it should out last the life of the car.

My local Chevy dealer had no clue about the HB issues.

Blue Bandit

I see that one is 25% under pulley. Just out of curiosity, why go with the 25% under pulley? What's advantage &/or disadvantage? I see some brands are 10%.

Blue Bandit

Move to top. Thx

Don-Vette

Have an ATI Superdamper installed.

Walt White Coupe

If it isn't chirping, I wouldn't do anything.

AORoads

Now, in advance of when you need it, is the time to start checking around locally for where is a good shop that knows C6s. I would hope you could find one closer than 2 hrs. away, but maybe not.

At any rate, if you buy an ATI at the very least you will know that Lingenfelter knows how to install it. Or, if you got stock for a new one, you may get another 60K or more miles out of it (assuming the other owner didn't already replace it at, say, 20K miles).

Of course, once it does start chirping you don't have a lot of time or miles until it's too late. And yes, I do believe in preventive maintenance.

EgoTrippin

I'm actually picking my car up today, after having the HB replaced. (Significant wobble.)

I replaced it with a ATI Super Damper Part #: 917246. I also picked up a set of Goodyear Gatorback belts to swap in as well. The HB was ~$400 from Summit, belts ~$40 from Amazon, and labor $600 from the chevrolet dealer.

So all told I spent a little over $1,000. They said that it runs true now and that I can pick it up, so I'll see for myself in a couple hours. Good luck!

Edit: In case you need it, the part #'s for the Goodyear Gatorback belts were: 4060798 and 4040410. I also had the dealer order a new GM balancer bolt and diamond embedded washer. GM part #'s: 12557840 and 12603843.

Blue Bandit

Okay, that's the info I'm looking for. I know absolutely nothing about this topic. I believe I'll repeat exactly what you did. I'm preparing for this ahead of time. Buy the parts, etc. my car runs great, sounds great, & I have withdrawal when not driving it. But it is winter in Indiana. I've been dressing up the engine bay. Does anyone have anything to add to this? Why do some say change the flywheel at the same time?

Blue Bandit

Hi EgoTrippin. Do you have an LS2 engine?

EgoTrippin

Yes, I drive an '06 with the LS2.

Blue Bandit

Thanks for your input. Looks like you researched well. I was coming to the same parts conclusion that you did. I think you have a good setup & I'll repeat it. I'm preparing ahead of time & planning ahead. This setup should last. Thanks again.

EVRose

So the dealer installed a non GM part for you? My dealer would not do it so I had to go with the same GM balancer.

MikeERWNC

According to the Jegg's rep:
It will increase power.
However, is will also make the water pump and alternator turn slower.
No shorter belt is required, the tensioner on the idler will compensate.

I will know more tomorrow if I can complete the install.

EVRose

Never heard of anyone having to change the flywheel. Maybe your thinking about water pump. I have heard of that being replaced while the HB was off since it's right there.

MikeERWNC

I have a 2007 LS2 with 65K. It chirps badly.

Whenever I prepare for the worse, I never need the parts.

I hope you are lucky enough to never need an HB.

My car sounds like s___t at 1500RPM.
I was hoping the belts and idlers would solve it... Nope.
The brightside is that I will get more hands on experience with the car.
I am already planning on buying another in a couple of years when this one rolls 200K.

EgoTrippin

Good catch. The chevrolet dealership local to me wouldn't install any aftermarket parts, but the chevy dealer one town over said it would be no problem. I almost didn't even bother calling the other dealer, but was glad that I did because their price was comparable to a couple speed shops that I had called that were even further away.

Never heard anything related to the flywheel, but did hear of recommendations to change out the idler pulleys and belt tensioner if they were making any noise. I bought a $5 automotive stethoscope from O'reilly's and carefully (when I was testing it out before I used it on my car I accidentally dropped the end of it on my counter and almost went deaf) placed it on each solid component closest to the pulleys/tensioner to see if I could hear anything, but everything sounded good. (Which is good because I didn't really feel like spending anymore money.) From what I understand, they would sound different than a chirp if they were failing, but instead possibly sound like metal slightly rubbing.

VET4LES

I would get a second opinion. It appears that most if not all HB's wobble some. You may never need to replace it. Most shops want to do the work so try to find a friend or Corvette owner that can look at it. You can compare your wobble with others. There are several videos on the forum showing wobble. Mine does it some but I'm not worried about.

Blue Bandit

All good input. Thanks.