Mournful Wail discovered...I think!

After replacing just about everything in the front of the MJ's engine (alt, water pump, P/S pump, idler pulley, fan clutch and belt) I still have an intermittent ...well...like the title says, a Mournful Wail.

Finally I looked at the harmonic balancer and the rubber piece looks like a wavy piece of spaghetti, so I gotta replace that this weekend.

My Q: How hard is it to replace the HB, front seal and gasket with the radiator et al. still in place. I have yet to find a single nut on this thing that won't turn on the first try with a little PB.

Is it worth pulling the rad and everything or is it easy enough to work around it??

if you can fit a puller in you don't have to remove the rad, but i higly recommend a putting something behind the rad so as to not unintentionally cause a coolant leak! lol

it is a lot easier to do the job with the rad out though

Haven't done one yet, but it looked to me (when I checked mine) as if I could probably get at it easier from below the vehicle, perhaps after rigging up an engine hoist and lowering the engine slightly.

From what I've seen, the front frame crossmember gets in the way of the puller more than the radiator.

The hardest part is breaking the big bolt loose on the crankshaft. When I did mine, my frt bumper was dented in so I drilled a hole behind frt license plate. The hole was big enough to get an extension thru. Then I had to take it to a shop and they used an air impact to bust the bolt loose.($10)

After that it was straight forward.

When I pulled my harmonic balancer in the engine bay I disable the ignition system, put a breaker bar on the HB bolt an let the handle rest on the power steering pump. Just touched the key to start and the bolt broke lose. I then use a puller, which did not contact the radiator at all... the threaded part went right under the radiator but yet behind teh front of the crossmemeber. . Not that hard, but its easiest to get to from underneath.

if you remove the front bumper, you have full access to the harmonic balance, atleast on my 89 xj.

I don't know the answer to the question about the seal replacement. HB replacement is not a problem with the Rad installed.

Do you have a leak or do you want to do preventitive maint? I have 228K miles on one of my XJ's and it doesn't leak. The other two only have 189K and 128K without leaks. Replaced the HB only on the 90 which has 189K.

sjx40250 said:

Do you have a leak or do you want to do preventitive maint?

Click to expand...

If I have the HB off I may as well replace what I can...don't wanna have to pull it again if I can help it.

Which seal are you talking of? the from HB seal or the timing cover gasket?

Talyn said:

Which seal are you talking of? the from HB seal or the timing cover gasket?

Click to expand...

Yes?
Both?

Any tips??

If there is a notch cut into the timing cover, might want to replace it too. Hopefully there won't be. I wouldn't bother replacing the gasket unless it's leaking but I would do the front main seal.

Front main seal should be pretty easy, but with the timing cover on and limited space I don't know if you could drive it in. Getting out you could probably do with a screw driver and just pry it out. But you don't want to scratch the crank snout. If you take the cover out you can drive it out from the rear and then drive it while the cover is out. The timing cover gasket has a few small bolts and you may need to remove part of the alternator bracket to pull the cover. The lower part of the timing cover does contact the oil pan gasket, which you can't reuse. Some timing cover kits come with a small gasket to replace that front part of the oil pan gasket.

If you do pull the timing cover I would recommend you put the cover on loosely, then drive the balancer on until it mates with the front seal. This is so the front seal correctly aligned to the HB. Chrysler has a tool to do this but since you will be throwing away a harmonic balance you can open up the ID slightly with a sanding drum or something similar so it just slides on the crank snout. If you don't align the front seal to the HB correctly, you will have an oil leak. Or you might get lucky. This is only if you pull the cover though.

Ok, it usually depends on the puller you get your hands on--some will allow you to get in there without pulling the radiator, some won't.

Once you have pulled the HB bolt, head for the hardware store. Buy a longer bolt, and a handful of washers of the appropriate size. When ready to install the HB, use the longer bolt with the washers, greased up, to pull the HB on. Remove a couple washers and pull it on some more. Keep repeating until the stock bolt can finish the job.

Some of the new seals you eliminate the splash guard.

Might as well check the condition of the timing chain and gears, depending on mileage you might just want to do it too.

I have to resurrect this thread because I haven't gotten it done yet, other issues taken care of and NOW I'm going to do the balancer.

Many opinions on this but what is the BEST and EASIEST way to break the HB bolt. Somehow I thought I could just put it gear and nothing would move, not. One friend says to remove the starter and chock the flywheel, another says to attach a breaker to the bolt and crank the motor.

Either way it seems like I'm putting more strain on the starter and could possibly bust a tooth or two on the flywheel. How do the (smart) big boys do it??

P.S. ...and BTW the wail is not the balancer but the A/C compressor. Truck driveable but not really on the road for any distance yet...work in progress

I would toss an impact wrench on it if you can find a way to get it in there.

Otherwise I would make a tool that bolts to the HB puller holes and straddles the bolt using a 3" wide piece of 3/16" flat stock, then use that for leverage.

Easy way to keep the pulley from turning is with a strap wrench--$20 for a pair at Lowes or wherever if you don't already have one. Jam the handle of the strap wrench against something and get the HB bolt with a breaker and a good cheater. Works every time.

Homemade DIY tool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY2XuD1edio

Just adjust your dimensions.

Good luck.

Neat solution but the strap is way easier.