Which aftermarket harmonic balancer do you guys recommend? I have the infamous wobble with the factory unit.... Ati, professional products, fluidampr? Any other brands i should look at? Im already going to get the arp hardware for it. How hard is this job going to be? Any help or info would be greatly appreciated. I saw this issue a couple days ago when I was checking fluids,etc and I just realized it might be a bad harmonic balancer. Im military so I dont have a lot of time to mess with it if its going to be a big job.

 

There are a number of good brands. To me ATI is about the best, but expensive.

The cheapest that I still think is good is a Powerbond.

I went with the Powerbond and an ARP bolt.

The job is a little more than an average DIY job although I did it in my garage. There is nothing really too hard about it but there are a lot of things to do and take some care with.

The most difficult is pulling the steering rack so you can get access to pull the balancer. It is not really difficult but it is kind of a puzzle on how to get it out. You need to lift and twist a pull to wiggle it out. On mine I had to lower the cradle about a 1/2" on one side to get it out. Take care to not turn the steering wheel while it is out in order to keep the steering position sensor thinking it is in the right place.

If you have a 6 speed you can put it in 6th and it will lock the motor well enough to break the crank bolt loose, but if you have an automatic, you need to find a way to lock the motor so it doesn't turn over.

When you are pulling the balancer, some pullers don't lock on well enough. There are no threaded holes in the stock balancer to put a puller that threads on. I used a set of three from Harbor Freight that cost about $15 and only used the middle sized one.

When you are putting the balancer back on, do not use the bolt to draw the balancer on. The bolt doesn't engage enough threads and will strip the crankshaft. You can make a simple installer with some metric all thread and some nuts and washers, or you can buy one.

Good luck.

Edit: Just don't use another stock one. They fail. Mine failed at about 30k miles.

 

The Power Bond seems to be popular in the Tech Section...
Might want to do some research on the replacement process in the tech section as well...

 

I went with the Power Bond balancer and the ARP bolt. I did lower the cradle a small amount as well.

My car is a automatic and I used the method shown in the link to hold the crank, copied below:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ving-bolt.html

It was not that bad a job just very time consuming for this old guy.

Good luck with your repair.

 

I had mine replaced last week by a local shop that works on MANY Corvettes.
I went with an ATI stock diameter balancer with an ARP bolt.
The ATI unit was MUCH heavier than the stock unit.
I had them replace the front cover crank seal and belts.
I also replaced the radiator hoses, flushed and replaced the coolant and P/S fluid.
Had a complete allignment as well.
Good luck.
Silverbird

 

Mine is a 6 speed car. Whats a rough estimate on how much damage this will do for total cost? I wouldnt mind flushing and changing hoses and what not while im there. Wouldnt mind a aftermarket cam and supporting Valvetrain either. This will eventually have one of the AA supercharger kits. I was saving for it but looks like the balancer has priority now.

 

Also are these ls6 motors internally balanced? Seems like all the balancers are internal for it

 

They are internally balanced. The harmonic balancer reduces harmonics, shaking from the engine firing every 90 degrees. The flywheel helps on the other end. I believe they are neutrally weighted. Having the rotating mass helps reduce vibration.

 

I have a powerbond you can get them at autozone I make around 668 wheel and no issues. It's not a hard job but a little labor intense. You don't have to pull the steering rack all the way out just enough to get to teh balancer. there is a good how to on on this. While you are there throw in a cam

 

If your adding FAI you should PIN your damper

 

Not should...YOU MUST!!!

 

Can someone be so kind as to post links or part numbers to:

- The Powerbond "stock" harmonic balancer? The only ones I can find are under/overdrive
- The Arp bolt(s)?

I need to have mine changed too and would like to buy the parts myself. 1999 C5.
Thanks folks! Sorry for semi-hijack!

 

Yup... I just didn't word it forcefully enough...

 

I know

 

hey man, good to see you're still around... if the op is planning on a supercharger and is doing a balancer you might consider getting an overdrive balancer right now so you don't end up doing it again down the road... I personally use an innovators west but that may be overkill in some situations, but they make good balancers nonetheless... ati and powerbond are also good... as stated above it is mandatory to pin the balancer in a supercharger application and I would just do it regardless

 

You guys with ATI balancers do I need to buy the ac pulley seperate or does it come with it? Wanting 917287 for a blower setup down the road. Also where do i find the pin kit

 

Bump anyone?

 

The ATI balancer has both "belt tracks" as part of the balancer's OD. You can also buy the "pinning kit" from ATI. The ARP bolt is also the way to go.

I'd also suggest the proper balancer installation tool.

 

A rental puller cant get the job done?

 

A rental 3 jaw PULLER, may do the job, but for the installation, you need the proper tool. You DON'T want to ruin the threads in the crankshaft!!