Harmonic balancer
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 1999
Posts: 22,025
Likes: 192
From: At the beach in little Rhody
The other critical thing is the bolt tightness and installation procedure. This drives the hub into the oil pump drive to help keep the hub from spinning on the crankshaft.
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 93
Likes: 0
From: Center TX
Although there are a lot of really good balancers like ATI that are rated and approved for racing, they are pretty expensive.
I did not want the stock AC balancer since they fail so often. My stock one failed at 30k miles.
I went with the stock replacement Powerbond one. At Oreilly's it is about $100. I put it on and there was zero wobble and no more belt chirping. I drove it for 3 or 4 years before I sold the car and it was still spinning true with no wobble when I sold it.
I also went with an ARP bolt since I wanted a conventional reusable bolt that can be torqued normally instead of the one time use torque plus angle OEM bolt.
Like Vettenuts said make sure to use an installer tool (or make one) so you don't damage the crank threads.
Good luck.
I did not want the stock AC balancer since they fail so often. My stock one failed at 30k miles.
I went with the stock replacement Powerbond one. At Oreilly's it is about $100. I put it on and there was zero wobble and no more belt chirping. I drove it for 3 or 4 years before I sold the car and it was still spinning true with no wobble when I sold it.
I also went with an ARP bolt since I wanted a conventional reusable bolt that can be torqued normally instead of the one time use torque plus angle OEM bolt.
Like Vettenuts said make sure to use an installer tool (or make one) so you don't damage the crank threads.
Good luck.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,071
Likes: 14
From: Odessa TX
ARP bolt is just tightened to a torque measurement (~240 lb/ft - depends what lube is on the bolt)
The OEM bolt stretches past the point of elasticity (torque to yield) at it's final setting which is why it can't be reused. ARP bolt I'm assuming is made of a stronger material that doesn't stretch as much when it's tightened to the appropriate clamping force.
ARP bolt is nearly 10x the cost of OEM bolt... I went with the OEM one as I don't anticipate needing to pull my crank pully that many times and a quality torque wrench that I'd trust to be accurate to 250 lb/ft is much more expensive than a breaker bar + angle gauge.
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 36,836
Likes: 244
From: Dear Karma, I have a list of people you missed.
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16
Using the ARP bolt eliminates the need for that.
Pro
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 714
Likes: 104
From: Springfield Ohio
ARP bolts are way too expensive for a guy that's not planning on pulling the balancer off on a regular basis. The OEM bolt is cheap and it's easy to use. Torque it to 37 lbs ft and make a vertical line on the head of the bolt with a piece of chalk or a crayon. Then turn the bolt with a long breaker bar until the line has rotated to just before the 5 O'clock position and you're done. Job done, no angle meter needed.
Last edited by tbrowne; Mar 9, 2016 at 08:25 AM. Reason: Fixed spelling
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 87,375
Likes: 1,593
From: Western NY
ARP bolts are way too expensive for a guy that's not planning on pulling the balancer off on a regular basis. The OEM bolt is cheap and it's easy to use. Torque it to 37 lbs ft and make a vertical line on the head of the bolt with a piece of chalk or a crayon. Then turn the bolt with a long breaker bar until the line has rotated to just before the 5 O'clock position and you're done. Job done, no angle meter needed.
Racer
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 275
Likes: 55
ARP bolts are way too expensive for a guy that's not planning on pulling the balancer off on a regular basis. The OEM bolt is cheap and it's easy to use. Torque it to 37 lbs ft and make a vertical line on the head of the bolt with a piece of chalk or a crayon. Then turn the bolt with a long breaker bar until the line has rotated to just before the 5 O'clock position and you're done. Job done, no angle meter needed.
The factory bolt it torque-to-yield. It's a 1 time use bolt. Just like the head bolts.
The reason they specify an angle is because you're turning the bolt past the point of permanent deformation. Turning to a specified angle stretches the non-threaded portion of the bolt. This is permanent and alters dimensions and composition of the steel on a microscopic level.
The ARP bolt is $34 ****ing dollars. If you can't spring $34 for an engine critical component then you're in the wrong hobby.
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Pro
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 714
Likes: 104
From: Springfield Ohio
That's BS. You're merely stretching the bolt to ensure it's properly torqued. Yes, you do need a new $5.00 bolt. Torque to yield is used because it has proved to be a more accurate way to ensure bolts are properly fastened. There a so many variables when torquing a bolt with a torque wrench that a great many bolts are never properly torqued and that creates its own problems. If the bolt was severely weakened, why would the GM Service Manual say to use the old bolt to seat the new balancer and then torque it to 240 lbs ft? If the bolt were greatly weakened it wouldn't withstand that much torque.
