I have an '86L with an L98 bone stock, besides some delete pulleys and long tubes. The balancer and pulley "wobble" slightly at idle but smooth out, given any RPM; my old PS pump I put on there does the same thing. The engine is at about 40k miles; before I dropped it in, I decided to put in a new timing set; I kept the stock harmonic balancer and pulley. I used a puller to get it off and an installer to get it back on; it is on the keyway all the way because I could not turn the installer anymore without turning the engine over. I do not know if it was wobbling right after I put it in, but it was not noticeable, the only reason I looked now was because my buddy's Ls1 started to have that notorious wobble too, same symptoms as mine, no belt squeak, and only visible at idle. It is possible my pulley is not perfect, as it is dinged up a bit, but it is tight; I cannot wiggle it or tighten it anymore without turning the engine over. I have not jumped any timing or have any severe vibrations, all the pulleys align well, and the crush washer on the pulley is fully compressed.

So, should I just replace it? It is inexpensive, and I know how to do it; I think I need a new timing cover gasket anyway. But I want to know three things:
Is it super urgent? (I know what can happen when these go bad)
Will I just get another wobbly one, is a slight wobble on a 40-year-old car just kind of one of those "it does that" things?
And how hard is it to do inside the car?

I can attach a video if needed
Thanks

 

You could have yours rebuilt. Dan

DamperDoctor

 

Just to be clear, you used something to keep the engine from spinning and torqued the balancer bolt to spec? Not just installed until the engine stopped spinning.

 

This wasn't wobbling but it was nearly touching the timing cover. Had it replaced. I would say if you have any doubt you should replace yours.
HTH,
Joe K