I have a 96 in my shop that I'm replacing the usual leaking water pump and opti in and I got to the point of removing the balancer tonight and maybe it's because I haven't done one in awhile but I don't recall the balancer being so hard to get off of the crank hub before. I have tried smacking it using a block of wood on the OD of it with no luck, then a brass flat punch on the inner spokes and still it would not budge, so after soaking it throughly in PB Blaster I figured I'd let it soak overnight and try it again tomorrow. I did a search and it appears that it will come off without having to lift the engine up and use some Kent-Moore tool right? I am only replacing the opti so there is no need to remove the crank hub too.

 

Without the kent moore tool removing it without pulling the engine is still easy if the car runs. Just put the belt on and run it for a minute with its bolts out three full turns.

 

I pulled the PS pulley off to get better access to the outside WP bolt since the vent harness ran right in front of it and I couldn't get to that bolt very easy. Can I just start the car for a minute with no belt on it?

 

I just had mine off and used a gear/pully removal tool. I had an old one in the garage and it worked perfectly. It is a bitch to get it in the small space that is there (the steering rack is in the way, but with a some busted knuckles, I got it to work. good luck!

 

You do NOT have to pull the hub to change the OPTI.

However if you choose to pull the hub , a standard puller will work find , HOWEVER you must back the bolt out of the hub and use it to push against with the puller.

The hub on a lt1 completely encases the front of the cranksnout, there is only a hole the size of bolt in the end of it. Alot of people don't realize this and end up pushing the end of the hub while trying to get it off with a puller.

I will snap a pic for you tonight when i get home. I have a lt1 balancer hub sitting on my workbench. Soon as you see it off the car you will understand exactly how it needs to come off.

 

He's not talking about the hub. All he needs to do is separate the balancer from the hub. You don't need the kentmore tool to do this, the kentmore tool is for hub removal.

If the balancer is thoroughly stuck on there (sounds like yours is) starting the car with the 3 bolts loosed and the belt on it is probably the best way to go about it. You might be able to use a conventional claw style puller to separate the hub from the balancer, but it would probably be easier to start the car with the belt on it and the bolts loose.

 

Thanks for the input. Okay so I first tried starting the car with the 3 bolts loosened a couple turns and the belt back in place and still nothing even after it sat all night with a through dose of PB Blaster, so then I just removed the bolts and started and stopped the engine a couple times and still nothing. I went underneath it and smacked the damper with a good hickory handle and my dead blow and rotated the engine and went side to side but to no avail, then I started to use a 3-bolt puller on the damper but realized that that wouldn't help me since I'd be pulling against the hub and that wouldn't help at all.. I just tightened it but I don't think I pulled the threads on the crank or anything like that since I have since rotated the motor over by hand with a socket on the center bolt. I tried my short Snap-On balancer remover (3-jaw type) that I use on the LS engines but I just couldn't get it in there so I went back to smacking it back and forth and finally finally it came off. Now, I marked it last night with a sharpie on the hub and the damper but when I got it off the PB must have dissolved the marks I made...great but when I look at the damper there is a yellow arrow on it and what looks like an arrow on the hub between two of the spokes so I'm thinking that's where I align it back to when I reinstall it right? I'm guessing that the hub is a press fit on the crank snout so there isn't any way for it to rotate in the hub right? Also, when I put the new opti on can I just line the pin up and re-install it or do I need to TDC the engine first? I know there are no base timing adjustments on the distributor so I'm thinking I am ok to just put it back on but I do want to make sure about the damper alignment.

 

And one more thing, I see a small notch in the timing cover right above the WP drive seal which I got a new one from GM but does that splined shaft pull out of the drive gear under the timing cover to make changing the seal possible with the timing cover in place?

 

I don't think the opti will go on but one way. Here is a link that may help you.

 

Thanks, I wonder what he made that install tool from?

 

A sharpie marker

 

The balancer will only go back on the hub one way, you will see when you reinstall. Also, no TDC is needed for the opti install. Unless forced on, the opti will realign regardless of TDC.

 

No.

 

Great I'll try that.

 

Ok thanks, I thought that might be the case.