Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Harmonic Balancers

Is there anything special when I put on the Harmonic Balancer ?
Has anyone chromed one ?? I know there is a tool to put it back on, any other pit falls ??

Dear Cond;

Yes a large heavy hammer.

Just make sure the shaft/hole inside it are clean with a little oil etc. Start it on by hand lining up the keyway & tap gently till it starts on. Then "wack it good" till it hits the timing gear.

You can't chrome it because they are two pieces held together by vulcanized rubber and the chemicals involved would destroy that bond.

Good luck, John M....

hello...what engine? does it have a harmonic balancer bolt? if it does, tighten bolt to install balancer,it will"slide" on as bolt is tightened-you may need a longer bolt to start...if it does not have a bolt, as mentioned use a hammer....mmmm however i would be careful not to hit too hard-slow even taps...sometimes problems can be caused from a hard blow, sometimes no prblem....

hello...so what engine?

If the motor is not in the car,And the crank is not been Drilled. DRILL it then tap it(tread it) Then USE the Right tool for the job in hand. Hammering on the Dampener/crank For the matter Can Mess up the what is known as End play in the crank shaft. But if you Must Hammer (geees) do it EASY. }[oooooo]

PS: Larry (twisted 6) is right. It's a 'common sense' issue. As it goes on watch the distance, when it touches the gear stop hitting it.

It's a 261 and is tapped. So I guess I can use a Balancer tool.

Yes most balancer tools Have different treads that come with it So just make sure yours match. Once it bottoms out Stop AND don't force it.It can damage the tool Or the treads in your crank.
}[oooooo]

In case anyone else is interested, here's how I did it for a 69 c-10 with a 250 and the materials I used;

Step 1) I had to remove the bumper, grill, and radiator, disconnected wiring from rad support and removed the rad support.

Step 2) Used a 25/64" drill bit and drilled the end of the crank. I eye-balled it. Using the woodruff key on the side as a guide (up-down) to drill at the right angle. I eye-balled the left-to-right by looking at the crank snout. Actually the hole at the end of the crank kinda guided me in staight also. Let her rip!
Drilled a hole 1 1/4" deep.

Step 3) Took my trusty 7/16-20 tap and threaded inside as far as it would go, again making sure I went in as straight as possible.

Step 4) I couldn't find an installer, so I bought a 4" Grade 8, 7/16-20 bolt. (After going to four hardware stores, the 4" was the longest bolt I could find),The bolt was only threaded 1" at the bottom, so I took it home and added
1 1/2" of thread.

Step 5) Used the 4" bolt with a grade 8 nut and washer (I did not bottom out the 4" bolt in the crank snout, don't want to break off the bolt in the snout.), held the bolt with a box end wrench and used another long box end wrench on the nut and in about 3 minutes had the balancer installed, never had to introduce a hammer.
What amazed me the most is that I never had to apply a lot of force, it slid on easily.

Step 6) Installed a 1" Grade 8, 7/16-20 bolt with a washer and lock washer. The washer laid nice and flat on the balancer and the crank snout. Good to go!

Step 8) Reinstalled rad support, rad, grille and bumper.

I don't want to vender or nation bash, but;

I remember in my youth that I used to use a hammer and a pipe on the balancer to install it and never had problems, but nowadays D*rm*n balancers are made in K*r*a and even using a hammer carefully to tap one in just ruins the balancer.
Dano

If you run into one of them that goes on hard you can buy a reasonably inexpensive ball thrust bearing that fits over the bolt. Put it between the end of the balancer and the bolt head. This take all the friction out between the bolt head and the end of the balancer. Makes things much smoother going.

Gael