Removing Harmonic Balancer LT1/LT4
Thread Starter
6th Gear
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 6
Likes: 1
Removing Harmonic Balancer LT1/LT4
Just wanted to share my experience replacing my Optispark...
The whole job wasn't too bad.. most of it was basic wrenching until I got to the harmonic balancer.
I beat on that thing for about 3 hours and it never budged. There just wasn't enough room to get any kind of swing on it and I didn't have a wheel puller small enough to get in there.
I finally had a brain flash and put the car on jack stands so I could look under it. From underneath, I was able to take a two and a half foot piece of pipe and slide it between the oil pan and the exhaust and butt it right up to the back of the harmonic balancer. I wadded up a grease rag and wedged it between the oil pan and the pipe to make it stay in place so I could get a swing on it.
A couple of good whacks and it moved. I then rotated the crank so I could whack the other side and it popped right off. The whole process took about 10 minutes.
It was a good moment when that thing finally came off. :-)
The whole job wasn't too bad.. most of it was basic wrenching until I got to the harmonic balancer.
I beat on that thing for about 3 hours and it never budged. There just wasn't enough room to get any kind of swing on it and I didn't have a wheel puller small enough to get in there.
I finally had a brain flash and put the car on jack stands so I could look under it. From underneath, I was able to take a two and a half foot piece of pipe and slide it between the oil pan and the exhaust and butt it right up to the back of the harmonic balancer. I wadded up a grease rag and wedged it between the oil pan and the pipe to make it stay in place so I could get a swing on it.
A couple of good whacks and it moved. I then rotated the crank so I could whack the other side and it popped right off. The whole process took about 10 minutes.
It was a good moment when that thing finally came off. :-)
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,605
Likes: 202
From: Trinity FL
Yes first time usually requires getting underneath. I would recommend 2x4 and not pipe though.
Clean backside of balancer with a wire brush drill attachment and paint it with a thin coat of anti seize.
Clean backside of balancer with a wire brush drill attachment and paint it with a thin coat of anti seize.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 5,621
Likes: 206
From: Orlando FL
I had the same problem 10 years ago but I used a steel 3/4 inch pipe cause I wanted to stay close to center and stay on the 3 spokes. I think I grabbed a 2x4 (hard to remember) at first but I could not get it to fit in the way I wanted to and could not see what it was hitting and did not want to touch to outer piece of the balancer.
I did emery cloth the mating surfaces, cleaned them up well and used a little grease. Now it just falls off.
