HB install and crank shaft seal.

While dinking around in my engine compartment, while the engine was on, I noticed that my harmonic balancer had a huge wobble. At first, it freaked me out mainly because I had no idea what the hell that part was. All I knew was that part was the main thingy that drove the other thingy’s.

After a quick search on naxja, I found that this was a common part that goes bad. But after reading a few threads I found out that it was also a common thing to strip the threads on the bolt holding the damper. So I thought I would post my solution on how to avoid striping the threads. I also ran into a detail that was not mentioned, so made note of that in here

Random info
1998, 4.0, 170000miles, serp belt was still in good condition, I did not hear any unusual noises, bought the harmonic balancer from the dealer $80


I ended up taking off my front clip and removing my radiator, although this is not necessary. It just makes it more convenient to work in.



Bolt removed; notice how the face of the crank shaft is not flush with the damper. I did not notice this



My camera refused to focus on the damper, so here are some fuzzy pics of the damper
I barrowed a puller from Autozone and the damper came off easily. Notice the missing rubber.







I think it was leaking….

I tried to pull the seal…



And failed. I wanted to see what was behind that cover anyways. Apparently that cone shaped thing is an oil slinger….this was mentioned in one of the threads to remove if using a part number xxxx. I contemplated removing the slinger but decided that it wasn’t doing any harm sitting there.



Part number for the seal is 321460 Timken brand
New seal installed. This is reference on which way to install the seal.




Here is what I did to install the damper.






The damper tapped on very easy….
Now at that point I had installed the balancer and the damper was on as far as it was going to go. I just had not realized that yet. I was convinced that the crank had to be flush with the damper

So I kept trying to get it flush :twak:







Luckily I had a picture of the damper after I took the bolt off. I checked the picture and I realized that the damper was on 30 minutes ago / 10 hard whacks ago



Complete:



Main things I gathered from the other threads on naxja and on my install:
-Don’t use the bolt to pull the damper on, you will strip the threads.
-A great write-up using a longer bolt: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1015687
-check to see if your damper is flush with the crank shaft before you take off the damper

Did anyone else notice whether their damper was flush? It still bugs me that mine was not flush. The pullys appear to line up, there is no wobble anymore, and the belt did not fly off when I started it. It seems fine…