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Harmonic Balnacer Clearance

IslanderOffRoad

IslanderOffRoad

NAXJA Forum User
NAXJA Member
Location
Houston, Tx
Yesterday on the drive home from the exhaust shop, just as I was turning into my neighborhood, I heard a snap, and lost power steering. Obviously, the belt snapped, just my luck fix one thing, another breaks.

Anyways the belt was about 2 years old and seemed to be in good condition when I inspected it in October.

I searched here today, and saw alot of people talking about harmonic balancer separation, so I thought I'd take a look at it.

How far is the outer part (pulley) of the balancer supposed to sit from the timing cover? Mine is really close.... like I could maybe get a popsicle stick in between them. I'm assuming my balancer is bad. Can anyone confirm?
 
The inertia ring should be flush with the hub at the front. Use a straightedge if you have to to determine this.

Small amounts of the elastomer ring protruding from between the two can be trimmed away with a razor blade, large amounts indicate replacement is also necessary.

Typically, clearance against the timing chain cover is not measured.
 
Hallo. I had a look this morning. It is indeed very narrow.
2 mm space I have on my rig. I did a measurement with a icelollystick from wood. That's the reason why these pulleys can squeel against the chaincover, when the rubber is worn.
There are bolts, that hitting almost the pulley, very scary!! :eek:
 
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balancer to timing cover spacer isn't really a measurement.

Rather, turn on the jeep, crawl underneath and look up at the pully.

If you can see it wobble back and forth, it is bad and is starting to seperate.

It may be more apparent if you put a belt on it first, and then watch.

To be honest the wobble may be small enough to not look like a big deal. But imagine that motor spinning at 5,000 rpm and then you get the idea.
 
Thanks guys. Now that I've looked at the clearance I can see why it walking back into the timing cover is an issue.
 
John, i can offer one piece of advice. when the balancer went on my MJ we bought 5 different ones, all Dorman units reboxed from various parts stores (including NAPA) and ALL of the dorman units were .005" too small on the ID of the hub. they wouldnt fit onto the crankshaft. i ended up using a stock one that Kyung had laying around. i would pull one from the junkyard, or get one from the dealer to save yourself some hassle.

when mine went bad the rubber was creeping out the front of the balancer, as 5-90 said above. i was on the freeway and every time i hit the gas the whole truck shook like it was going to blow itself apart, i thought the transmission was toast. thank god i was only a mile or so from Brendan's house.

if you think it might be bad, change it. its not pretty when it goes out, and it will be next to impossible to keep a belt on it if it does go bad while you are driving.

just my 2 cents :cheers:
 
Thanks Grimm, I had read about the Dorman problems.

How tough did you find this repair to be? I can't drive it anywhere unless i put a belt on and if it is indeed out of alignment it would probably break again.
 
I too had a problem with a dorman balancer. Bought a new one, put it on, and it was out of alignment. Had to get another one ordered in. The second was worked fine.

I would not use a used balancer. these 4.0 balancers have too many problems.

It is about a half-hour job if you are mechanically inclined. Be sure to rent a balancer puller from advance auto / autozone. If you have a front skid, you may want remove that for some room to work.

Use the balancer puller, pull the balancer off. Grease the shaft and reinstall the balancer.
 
Called a shop, they want about $300 to do this job, so I'm probably tackling it myself.
 
Now if only I had some daylight to get the belt back on and check it out in the next week...
 
Get the one from the dealer. If you search a bit you can find a dealer that sells for less than "List Price". The factory one I bought was made in Canada and quite different from the aftermarket ones.
All the aftermarket ones I have seen are now made in China and of questionable alloy. I bought a new one and the flanges were broken off from the factory. Dorman is the main distributer in the U.S., the others I have seen just have a different name on the same box.
You probably don't need a new bolt.
You DO need to use a harmonic balancer PULLER/INSTALLER, I know because I didn't use one and it cost me.
JNickel101 said:
I also need to do this....

Rockauto sells one labled as "ATP" - they have a separate one that is Dorman....think the ATP is ok, or should I just go to the stealership?

I've also heard you should get a new bolt as well....?

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1363384,parttype,5512
Click to expand...
 
Re: the new bolt, you may be thinking about advice to get a somewhat longer 1/2-20 bolt and a couple of washers to start the installation of the new balancer to avoid stripping threads. Finish up with the original bolt.
 
Hi,
You might want to change the crankshaft seal in the timing cover while you have got the pulley off, you will kick yourself if it starts leaking soon after you have fitted your new pulley!!

When I did mine I could not get the old seal out while it was still in place on the engine and I had to take the timing cover off in order to get it out, no big deal, just a lot of small bolts. I used some RTV on the gasket where the cover joins the sump when I put it all back together.
 
One trick for removing stubborn seals is to running a short sheet metal screw into the metal face of the seal and pry it out with a small crowbar. I found the bolt on the NAPA puller to be too long and hit the radiator. Not sure if the Autozone version is shorter.
 
I can't tell if its wobbling... tried to get a picture but my camera battery was dead. Looks like it might have a slight wobble, but could be the reflection of the fan tricking me.

anyways the rubber doesn't look shot, the center bolt is pretty close to straight edge with the outer part. sounds like my balancer is ok?
 
Should the wobbling be extremely obvious?
 
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