westmma385

i changed out my belts, ac idler pulley, and ac pulley tensioner. While the car was at idle I noticed that the harmonic balancer had a slight wobble to it while rotating. It is the stock unit with 60k miles 02 C5 and it had a slight horizontal front to back wobble.

How much play is acceptable and how do I determine if I need to replace the unit.

The other pulleys seem to freely spin including the water pump and alternator.

The car idles fine and there is no noticeable issues while driving the car.

Lexybird

No vibration is good .. Very Common problem on c5 vettes . I'm swapping mine out right now . Huge expensive pain to do . Expect an 800$ bill on labor plus the parts

feeder82

the wobble is the beginning of a serious problem, if it goes bad it will either hit the steering rack or run into the front cover and ruin that also

foggy

Time for a balancer job.
Very Common

TOPCATHR

Its going to go. sooner or later I would do it now. My 1998 vert had same slight problem, I started it up on a 15 degree day and it spun right off. Im guessing the extreme cold made the rubber brittle......good luck

leadfoot4

Realistically, no play is acceptable. Given the number of discussions about this problem, on this forum, it's very obvious that most, if not all, LS harmonic balancers will "de-laminate" at sometime during their life. It's just a question of when.

My car is a low mileage, summer driven only, C-5, but the thought of having a known, potentially defective piece on it, didn't sit too well with me, so I replaced it before it broke. It's not the easiest task in the world to do, so whether or not you do it yourself, or have a shop do it for you, is the biggest question.

Lexybird

My 2000 c5 has only 30,500 on it and the balancer went the other day .always babied never outside in the elements . It's not always about miles , time plays a big factor and causes the rubber to break down . Based on my recent research on this it appears virtually every c5 will need this done sooner or later

ArmchairArchitect

Make sure you replace with an aftermarket balancer as an OEM one will just fail again.

And an ARP bolt with red loctite.

While you're in there, should replace the steering rack bushings (cheap on rockauto.com) and front crankshaft seal as you'll have easy access to both during the job.

v8srfun

This job can be done at home but it is not fun or easy. I just replaced mine with a powerbond and balancer from Autozone with a lifetime warranty. Mine was not wobbly but the front main was leaking and cut a huge grove in the sealing surface of the pulley.

pjdbm

changing belts & tenioners & pulleys is not fun & easy, how difficult is this job for a shade tree mechanic with moderate skills?

v8srfun

The Balancer is time consuming you will want to do plenty of research on the job before trying to tackle it. I would say if you are not comfortable with disconnecting the steering shaft and steering lines from the rack so you can remove it then it is not a job you want to do. The job can be done with the rack in the car but it makes it even more of a pain in the but because it always is in the way. Once the rack is out the rest of the job is not that bad. Now I will say there is more cost than just a balancer and a bolt in this job. You need a way to hold the engine from spinning (I bought a tool that bolts in where the starter goes and it holds the flywheel) you need a tool to pull the old pulley (I used a Chrysler harmonic balancer puller but in order to use it you need to cut the flange off your original bolt so the pulley can slide off) then you need a way to press the new pulley back on ( I was fortunate enough to have a local hardware that had a bolt the same thread as the crank m16x2.0 I think and a nut and washers to seat it in) you do not want to use your new bolt to seat the pulley because it is a torque to yield bolt and if can only be used one time . Finally you need to be able to crank the new bolt in (you need a torque angle meter for this) and it is not for children if you do not have a bar that is 2feet long at the minimum you will not have the strength to tighten it all the way (unless you are just incredibly strong) i am no slouch but not claiming to be muscle man either but I was quite happy when I finished tightening that bolt using a 24 inch bar.

pjdbm

thanks for explaining it. Last time I did it was on a 1970 Camaro with the radiator out. This I will need to sleep on.

leadfoot4

That job was a "day at the beach", compared to swapping a C-5 balancer......

zachaeous

I had to do this job on a OEM balancer that had only been on the car for a little over a year and 5000 miles. It started chirping and was really wobbling. I went with a Power Bond OEM replacement (now Dayco).

It is a tedious job but is doable. I took my time and used the belt method to hold the crankshaft. Here is a link:

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

I also used the arp bolt. Also be prepared to use some type of cheater pipe or extension to torque the arp bolt properly. The belt method saved pulling the starter off to hold the crankshaft on the A4 auto transmission car.

Good luck with your decision and repair.

v8srfun

I hope I did not make it sound to bad because I would do it again myself if I had to. The key is to do your research first so you don't continue to get delayed over silly things like needing a specific tool. You figure the job is about 75% labor cost if done at a shop so why not save the cash for a fun part like headers or something.

C5SCCA

Im surprised this job is considered difficult. It is time consuming, but I would not consider it a difficult job. I think just about any DIYer with moderate skills good do it easily! Perfect excuse for a cam while you are down there too! Use OTC 6667 puller and pull the handle of your automotive jack and use it as a cheater bar to tighten the bolt. I had to use the jack handle over the 250ftlb torque wrench to get it to click. That bolt is on there.

pjdbm

Thanks for all the great information, sorry for hijacking this thread westmma385.

ccporter

I just had to do mine, I went with the powerbonder balancer as well. I ended up having a friend of mine do it for me because I just didn't have the time to do it myself. It didn't look too bad to do. It can't be any worse then putting a clutch in one of these cars. I would recommend using an install tool (all thread with a couple of washers) all you need is a 3 jaw puller to pull the old one. I would recommend also replacing the ball joint boots while it's apart as well. i would never do this without doing the front seal as well.

westmma385

Appreciate the info. Ill be buying the parts and getting this done in next few weeks. Not excited about it but dont want to pay for labor

leadfoot4

If your Corvette isn't your "daily driver", and you can take your time with the job, it won't be too bad. I did mine, but "while I was in there", I also upgraded to an LS2 timing chain, for who know what reason. THAT added a lot of time to my job, but still, working at a relaxed pace, I think I got it done in about 15-16 hours.