In the process of putting a cam in my 98. When removing the stock balancer which puller works best?

 

It has to be the 3 arm puller. When I went to buy one I bought the big one and it was too big to fit. I think the 4" or 5" is the right size.

 

Thanks! Any tips on getting the ps rack out?

 

If you support the motor with a lift you can try and drop the cradle some so that you can get access to the balancer bolt.

 

i got the top line off from the front, looking down on the rack by disconnecting the ABS block from its bracket and remiving the bracket. then zip tied the ABS unit by the lines as high as it will go to the alternator mounting hole on that bracket. then i went through the fender well on the driver side, lifted the first disconnected line out of the way, and accessed the lower line from the fender well. removed both rack mounting bolts, you need to hold a wrench on the back of the bolt, theres nuts that will spin if not, then the 13mm steering joint bolt, slide the joint off of the steering shaft toward the engine or firewall, and tip the rack up and rotate it toward the ground. slides right out to the passenger side, then out the top of the car

 

Mine slid out drivers side.

 

oh also, DO NOT pull against the crank bolt installed in the threads. remove the bolt COMPLETELY, and use a 23 mm deep impact socket against the crank snout and put a small bolt into the 1/2" drive square. set your 3 jaw puller bolt against that. should come right off once you get some tension on the puller's bolt.

 

GM uses a a specific puller (Kent Moore) to remove the balancer. I have one out in the garage. It sure does make it easier.

Also have the Flywheel Lock Tool and Balancer install tool.

 

balancer install tool is WELL worth the money if you cannot find the threaded rod locally to fab up your own tool. it pays to have the right stuff, and if youre only doing this once, someone on the forum will eventually need one, making you some of your money back anyway.

 

if you have a manual trans put it in 4th and use the ebrake, then you won't need the flywheel tool

get a longer bolt, that will help with removal and installation of the new ballancer 25mm longer will help, bottom out the new bolt and then you can use a 4" 3 jaw puller, if you're working by yourself it helps to use an elastic band around the end of the jaw arms to keep them in place on the ballancer while you start to put tention on the ballancer, make sure you pull on the 3 inner ribs of the ballancer! I used this method recently during a cam swap and I replaced the bolt with a ARP bolt during reinstallation, it went well for me

 

Harbour Freight was my friend, bought the box with 3 different sized pullers for 17 or 19 bucks. Went to Autozone and "rented" the harmonic balancer installer for $44 up front, but when I return the installer I get the $44 back!

Finished installing my cam and balancer, set my heads on and waiting for the morning to torque to yield the head bolts.

I had a great idea to reinstall the clamp and ground straps on the back of the heads today. I cut out a piece of cardboard and covered the head gaskets and block and set the heads on it while I reinstalled those bolts so the new head gasket wouldn't get boggered up, once done pull the cardboard out and then bolt the heads down!

 

incase anyone checks this later...the best pulley for these for free is the autozone loan a tool. you want a puller for the chyrsler balancer. Best one out

 

There is simply no way to install an oem style balancer correctly using 4th gear and a parking brake. It's dangerous because you could push the car off the jack stands and crush someone and since you will never get adequate torque applied it's likely that the balancer will spin off the crank nose soon after installation (no keyway).Please don't suggest this on a public forum.

 

Actually, GM uses a Kent Moore Puller, can't remember the puller part number but it works great. I've used it a number of times and have had no problems.


Never tried the Chrysler one but mabe they are the same.

 

Dont mean to says that its 100% safe and that im mister know it all but... Did mine with the front on jackstand and the rear on the ground.Put it in 4th with the ebrake and torque the ARP damper bolt to the 240ft/lbs(need a lot of force) and the rear never even move or try to move a 1/16th of a inch.

 

If you chock the wheels with a big enough block and your parking brake is properly adjusted for wear you can survive a potential tragedy. The problem is that this is a public forum. There are 1,000's of C5's needing new balancers these days and it only takes one cascade of events to kill or cripple someone. Feelin' lucky????

I don't know everything either but I do know that if you only torque to 240 using the entire drivetrain as a crankshaft lock you won't get 240 lb-ft of torque to the balancer bolt. You'll get 50 to the clutch disk springs to make them solid, you'll get 100 to the driveshaft couplings to get those compressed and then you'll get some additional torque to 4' of steel rod driveshaft. What's left over is what will actually get to the balancer install tool or bolt. (I also could add that twisting aging rubber driveshaft couplers with all that torque is probably not doing them a bit of good either.)

Furthermore, 240 lb-ft is just to get the balancer seated onto the crankshaft. Torque on the new bolt is another step which requires 37 lb-ft. Then the real fun starts getting the bolt rotated 140 degrees past that location. I used a flywheel lock tool and can tell you it's a HELL of a lot more torque than 240 lb-ft! I don't know exactly what it was because my wrench only went up to 250 but I was straining my guts out long after that wrench clicked at the 250 threshold. My guess would be somewhere north of 320 lb-ft and I suspect the reason the FSM states the torque requirement in degrees is that most torque wrenches don't go up that high!

I'm stressing this point because in preparing for my own install I too fell for the parking brake/4th gear myth after reading it over and over in these threads despite my inner voice telling me there might be a problem. How could so many people be wrong, right? After disassembling half my car I had to stop in the middle of the project and wait for a flywheel lock to be shipped from BFE.

Look, if you don't believe me check it out for yourself. Take a breakover bar and socket to the balancer bolt on any M6 equipped C5 with it in 4th and the e-brake deployed. You can easily twist the driveshaft 20 or 40 degrees without much torque at all! It's like yanking on a rubber band.

Despite my coming down hard on this point I'm usually not a "strictly by the book guy". I use practical work-arounds all the time to avoid added cost. But it needs to be a safe and effective alternative. As a community we should be trying to promote safe and competent practices for others. That's really the whole point of a forum. Sharing our experience with others before they embark on a project so they can get a heads up and not make avoidable mistakes. Stop perpetuating this BAD PRACTICE, PLEASE!!!!

Ok, I'm done ranting. I feel a little better.

 

I didn't want to loosen or lower my subframe but when I tried to pry the rack up I ran out of room before clearing the flanges. I had better luck tapping the rack out sideways (about 2") toward the driver side of the car to clear the flanges. I used a mallet and broom handle centered on the rack housing in between the flanges of the subframe on the passenger side. It didn't take much force at all. Once the flanges were clear I was able to rotate it 90 deg and move it toward the passenger side with no trouble.

When I remounted the rack I followed another poster's advice and sprayed some WD-40 on the rubber grommet to get it to slide back in. I first got the driver side located between the flanges, then dropped the rack into the flanges on the passenger side from above. While under the car I was able to grasp the housing with my hands and use my body weight to pull it down into place. The top inner edges of the flanges on the passenger side are machined at 45 degree angles to help start it in without the rubber rolling or tearing and that lubricant really helps.

Everyone knows about not turning the steering wheel when disconnected but you also must not pull or push much on the tie rod ends or the rack will move relative to the rack housing and also eliminate your center reference. Just a heads up.

 

You're better off replacing the stock crank bolt with an ARP one.

about using the flywheel lock tool. Safety First, too many incidents of car falling and killing someone.