After reading all of the post on replacing my harmonic balancer, I'm at a loss as wether to do it myself or have the dealer do it. I know I have the mechanical knowledge to do it, just not sure if it's worth the headache. Has anyone had luck with just tightening the bolt? I really don't see a wobble at all on mine, but have tried everything else for my belt squeek. It only seems to squeek during the hotter months.
Can anyone post their experiences with this? Any how-to links out there?

 

Did the dealer recommend replacing the crank pulley for a belt squeek? If the pulley has no visible wobble or other obvious mechanical problem, don't mess with it. Tightening it will do nothing as it's pressed on and the bolt is plastically stretched when installed. That would require you to move the steering rack out of the way anyway so it'd only make sense to replace it while you were already in there. FYI, it's not a difficult job at all, just a PITA because you have to move everything in front of the pulley out of the way to access it including the radiator shroud, radiator, condenser and that wonderful steering rack. I did modify a 24 mm socket to be able to access that bolt without moving anything but that was to turn the crank to torque the rockers rather than tighten the bolt.

Do yourself a favor and look for the source of the belt squeek elswhere first - like the main tensioner assembly, the alternator pulley, an idler or a bad/stretched/dried-out/misaligned belt. It's more likely your problem is one of those rather than a healthy crank pulley. A faulty pulley could cause the problem but rule out the rest before tackling that one.

 

Yes, I'm pretty sure it's the balancer. I've replaced the power steering, water pump, idler pulleys and just installed a new tensioner. I'm running gatorbacks on it. It's not just one belt either. At times it's the AC belt and then it's the main belt. When I replaced the AC belt the old one had a section that looked like it had been sliced. I hear that is a sign of the balancer going bad.
I don't mind forking out the money to have my dealer do it, but I'm not very confident in them. Last time she was in the shop I ended up telling them how to repair most of the stuff. May main issue is removing and installing the new balancer. Do I need the GM tool? And can I use the old bolt method to install the new one?

Thanks

 

I had the same thing with my vette. It would start sqeeking at cold start then eventually go away as it warmed up. I had that trouble when it was cold and wet for me. They replaced the harmonic balancer, and for me it went bad twice. The second time the part had failed and replaced it at no cost. Non of this cost me a thing to have it replaced since I got a 100k warranty. Oh, just curious....an underdrive pully just replaces the harmonic balancer right? And the belts of course. I think some come with another pully for the alternator or something.

 

dallabaker - I would do it myself. I have, in fact, when I did heads/cam. But that's me.

Since you're sure it's the balancer then the only real question is should you do it or let the dealer do it. It all comes down to whether you 1) trust the dealer and 2) want to mess with it yourself. No question about it, it's a medium-size, PITA job as repairs go. But you can do it in your garage with common tools. The most exotic you'll need is a 6" puller for the pulley. I also bought some ss 16 mm threaded rod to make pulling and installing it a bit safer but that's optional.

A good how-to web site to help you decide if you want to tackle this yourself is:

jmX's LS1 How-To Web Site

Check it out the head/cam install and take it as far as the pulley portion, skip the other bits and follow the reinstallation of the pulley.

Antvette - you are correct. There are different versions of the underdrive setup depending on what you want to underdrive. The belts are shorter to accomodate the smaller pulley diameters. You can get the pulleys alone or with the belts and bolt in a kit. Remember that the crank bolt cannot be reused because it is permanently stretched when it's torqued.

 

Thanks Patches. I plan to photo and detail the adventure to post for other members.

 

i had mine replaced, no way i would do it myself. have to take too many parts off to get at it for me. i let the dealer do it, did a great job. said mine was one of the cleanest cars he ever worked on, so he took his time. it was just as clean when i got it back, and no, i didn't let them wash it.