Balancer (Damper) Redesign? Throw Out Oil Slinger?

I'm in the process of replacing most of the stuff on the front of the 4.0L in my '97 XJ. Timing set and water pump, belt and all hoses, thermostat housing.

When I got the balancer off, the seal area was severely grooved, so I began looking for one of those sleeve kits that goes over that area to provide a fresh area for the seal to ride against. Nobody seemed to be able to get one, so I priced the balancer and since it was about $65 I decided the easiest and best thing would be to just get a new one. This was over the weekend, and the dealer was closed, but my local NAPA had an aftermarket one in stock, so I got it. Bad idea. When I tried to install it I learned that the OEM one has a chamfer on the inward end of the ID that allows it to slide on to the end of the crankshaft far enough to allow you to get the bolt started. This aftermaret one did not have that chamfer, and so was impossible to install. So I had to wait, and I got an OEM one from the dealer ($5 more).

Here's the thing. I was informed at the dealer's parts counter (and shown the bulletin) that the balancer has been redesigned. Due to this, I was instructed to "remove and discard" the oil slinger! Okey dokey!

Anybody heard of this? Comparing them I can see no difference. They appear identical to me, and I can't see anything to take the place of or assume the function of the oil slinger, which (I think) is to prevent major amounts of oil in the bottom of the timing cover from putting undue pressure or stress against the front seal and causing it to leak. Is that right?

If any of you real mechanics out there know about this, I'd like to hear about it. I worry about not having that oil slinger in there.

Since we are in the grip of a major and severe ice storm right now here in Austin, I'm not working tonight, so I could be putting the thing back together, while testing out my new kerosene garage heater. Bit I'm not sure I want to put it back together without that oil slinger until I learn more. So any information any of you might know about this would be highly appreciated.

As I recall, the timing set is "splash lubricated" from somewhere up around the camshaft - and gravity does the rest.

As far as getting a new damper in place, that's why I have a decent assortment of 1/2"-20 hex head screws - I set the thing in place, select a screw that gives me five or six threads worth of engagement, and work my way down. When you get close to the end of the threads on the screw, select a shorter one and repeat.

Put a couple of lightly greased washers under the screw head, and bear on the OEM hardened (and extra-thick) washer to install.

Lubricate the OEM screw with engine oil or chassis grease, and torque to 80 pound-feet (per FSM.)

There's a tickle about the OEMR HD no longer requiring the oil slinger, but I can't get anything firmer than that at the moment.

5-90

Hey, 5-90, since I went back and got the OEM balancer, and it has the chamfer, it fits fine, and I won't have any trouble at all installing it, though, like you, I keep a large assortment of sets of three each of a bunch of sizes and lengths of bolts for this type of use in my puller box. I have had to struggle with this sort of thing a few times in the past. I keep all my pullers in boxes with extra handy stuff like that. Even more fun than this can be tilt steering columns, eh? And some types of hubs, like rear Corvette ones, large Ford truck front ones, etc.

Anyways, I'm guessing from this that maybe newer model engines may have the oil slinger designed out of them. Since it's such a simple thing, I don't know why they'd bother, but hey, what do I know?