Success!

Thanks to all the technical help I received from this excellent fourm I sucessfully replaced my harmonic balancer this weekend! And I can certainly tell a difference. The new balancer is nearly rock-steady at idle, whereas the old one was quite wobbly. But the biggest difference I noticed occurs when I take off slowly from idle, at nearly stall-RPM. With the old balancer the engine would judder momentarly, but with the new balancer the take-off is silky smooth from the get-go all the way up to high RPM.

Couple of thoughts and observationsn about my experience:

1) My old balancer did not have any weights installed in it, so I didn't have to install weights in my new balancer. But I purhcased a hand full of weights before hand, just in case.

2) I used a small, two-jaw puller to remove the timing cover oil seal.

3) Then to install the seal, I used a PVC pipe reducer and a 16mm all-thread rod; the same rod I used to install the pulley. I merely pulled the seal into position in the cover using a PVC reducer with the same OD as the seal. The other side of the reducer reacted against a large steel washer, which reacted against the 16mm nut. This contraption worked great.

4) Removing the 16mm bolt was a REAL challenge. After multiple attemtps with a two-foot long cheater and heating the bolt with a MAP gas torch, I finally managed to break it loose. Also, it was a massive struggle to get the full 140 degrees of rotation when I installed the new bolt.

5) If I do this job again, I need a better method of breaking loose the old and tightening the new 16mm bolt, perhaps an air impact wrench with ten zillion foot-lbs of torque?

6) I used a Craftsman, six inch, three-jaw puller to remove the pulley, which worked great.

7) All the advice I received from this forum was excellent, especially the advice to use a 16mm all-thread rod to remove the pulley. AND I'm also appreciative of the excellent advice I received to replace my wobbly pulley; the new one is vastly better.

8) I strongly recommend that others replace their wobbly pulley and if doing the job themselves, to use a 16mm rod to install the new pulley, not the existing bolt.

9) To provide a reaction point for loosening and tightening that pesky 16mm bolt, I temporarily installed a foot rest on the lower A-arm. I installed a 1/2" X 6"' long bolt in the vacant hole left by the stabilser when I removed it.

Thanks again Corvette forum!

 

Oh, and I almost forgot:

If I have to do this job again, I would remove the starter and install the tool that locks the flywheel. My C5 has a manual gear box, so I just stuffed it in gear and set the parking brake. However, when trying to untorque or torque that diabolical 16mm bolt, I notice a lot of drive train windup. So, I felt like I was trying to compress a very stiff spring. The flywheel lock should tighten things up a bit, making for a much more solid reaction point.

Thanks again to all of you that contributed to my very first query on this forum.

 

Congrats! I'm glad everything worked out!!! As for the removal of the old pulley, a high torque impact wrench makes it a cake walk. I have an IR 650 ft/lb 1/2" drive impact and it walked it out like nothing!


I'm glad everything went well!

 

iseered,

I was thinking about an air impact (point 5. in my previous post) but didn't know if all that knocking about would damage the crank bearings.

Do you use the impact for installation of the new bolt as well?

Do you think a 400 ft-lb impact would have enough capacity? I wonder how much torque is in that dang 16mm bolt???

 

The impact won't hurt the crank bearings at all they are really durable with no moving parts.

As for the 400 ft lb impact, I'm not sure. Mine has 600 ft/lb in forward (650 in reverse) and struggled to get the 140 degrees after torquing it.

 

What pully/balancer did you go with?

 

If the GM manual says to transfer weights to a new balancer then how would you balance a smaller underdrive pulley? The difference in the pulley diameter would affect the balance even if the same pins were used???

 

Replace it I did with a fluidampner . my motor runs much smoother look into it