a lovely metal scraping noise....

[Ben824]

So I go out and start up the jeep this morning and the first thing I hear is a wonderful loud metal scraping noise. It gets worse and worse by the time I get to my college campus where it is obnoxiously loud. What a great way to start my birthday. I pop the hood with it running to track down the noise. I determine it is coming from the front of the engine bay. I turn the Jeep off and I see that the mechanical fan is just barely making contact with the crankshaft pulley. I also notice that the fan belt on the mechanical fan pulley is sitting almost halfway forward off the pulley. Now I have not had a chance to explore what is wrong other than that since I had to get to class and its raining today. but has anyone had this problem? Has my mechanical fan some how moved back or my crank shaft pulley moved forward? I did notice I'm close to being due for a new fan belt so I'll probably go ahead and replace that while I'm trying to figure out what is wrong. Any insight or suggestions here would be greatly appreciated.

[ChiXJeff]

Your harmonic balancer is probably shot. There's a bunch of threads about it here.

[Ben824]

Grrrreaaat... Ok well what is the level of difficulty on this and how much do one of these cost? Upgrades available/worth it? If I gotta replace it might as well improve it if the price is reasonable.

[kastein]

Harmonic balancer is kinda a pain due to it being close to the front frame crossmember. You can get pullers for them for pretty cheap at your favorite auto parts store. Putting it back on you will want a longer-than-stock bolt of the same diameter and thread pitch as the stock one, fully threaded, and a handful of washers to fit around it. Using these you can pull the balancer onto the crankshaft a bit till the bolt bottoms out, then back it out, add a few washers, pull it on a little more, repeat until it's fully mounted.

[lawsoncl]

If it were an older Jeep, I'd suggest replacing the front crank seal that's behind the harmonic balancer while you've got it off. For a 1997 that I see in your profile, I don't know that I'd worry too much about it.

[IslanderOffRoad]

Originally Posted by kastein

Harmonic balancer is kinda a pain due to it being close to the front frame crossmember. You can get pullers for them for pretty cheap at your favorite auto parts store. Putting it back on you will want a longer-than-stock bolt of the same diameter and thread pitch as the stock one, fully threaded, and a handful of washers to fit around it. Using these you can pull the balancer onto the crankshaft a bit till the bolt bottoms out, then back it out, add a few washers, pull it on a little more, repeat until it's fully mounted.

Can this be done without pulling the rad?

[kastein]

Just checked my 91, the answer is yes... but it looks a heck of a lot easier without it there. If you want to do it with the radiator in I would go from the bottom, actually.

[lawsoncl]

Originally Posted by IslanderOffRoad

Can this be done without pulling the rad?

I've done two that way. If you get the puller from Napa, the bolt is too long and will hit the radiator, so you'll want a shorter bolt.

Kastein has good advice on using a longer bolt to pull the balancer on. Don't use the stock bolt with just a few threads engaged as you'll end up pulling those threads out. I used a longer bolt, a few washers, and a nut. Threaded the bolt in and used the nut to push the balancer on.

[Talyn]

When I replaced the balancer on my 2000 with the engine in the bay there was no interference with the radiator. The only thing I had to remove was the front skid, belt and plastic sheet thing. I used Advance Auto's puller/installed kit. The large bolts for the installer and removed just went under the radiator support.. not into the radiator. I always worked from the bottom for the HB.

[kastein]

Originally Posted by lawsoncl

I've done two that way. If you get the puller from Napa, the bolt is too long and will hit the radiator, so you'll want a shorter bolt.

Kastein has good advice on using a longer bolt to pull the balancer on. Don't use the stock bolt with just a few threads engaged as you'll end up pulling those threads out. I used a longer bolt, a few washers, and a nut. Threaded the bolt in and used the nut to push the balancer on.

I stole that advice from Joe I think but yeah, if you don't do that, you are going to kick yourself. I dislike removing a frozen-on NSS for the same reason, only difference being you CAN'T get more thread engagement on those.

[lawsoncl]

Originally Posted by Talyn

When I replaced the balancer on my 2000 with the engine in the bay there was no interference with the radiator. The only thing I had to remove was the front skid, belt and plastic sheet thing. I used Advance Auto's puller/installed kit. The large bolts for the installer and removed just went under the radiator support.. not into the radiator. I always worked from the bottom for the HB.

Maybe the radiator on a 200 is different? The two I did were an 89 Comanche and a 93 Jeep Grand.

[UNCC_99XJ]

Another vote for the harmonic balancer. $45.99 at Advance. Buddy of mine just changed the one on his 98 this past weekend. Shredded one belt two weeks ago, put another one on and noticed that it wouldn't line up with all the pulleys (was only halfway on the fan pulley). Drove it like that for two weeks until it shot the 2nd belt..old balancer came off in 2 pieces when he finally changed it.

[JJacobs]

Originally Posted by lawsoncl

If it were an older Jeep, I'd suggest replacing the front crank seal that's behind the harmonic balancer while you've got it off. For a 1997 that I see in your profile, I don't know that I'd worry too much about it.

That's funny because it's true. How many other 13 year old vehicles would anybody be comfortable saying that?

[Ben824]

I got it fixed it was the harmonic balancer and I would have fixed it myself but its been raining non-stop and its been cold and I just didn't have the time.