Not true, most LS engines are indeed internally balanced. SOME LS engines were failing NVH specs and thus had to have a final balancing done via the harmonic balancer and/or the flywheel, but this was the exception not the rule.

And any third party balancer should be neutrally balanced, but it doesn't hurt to double check and re-balance them if necessary.

And you'll be wrong again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

that was for the keyway, GM keyed balancers were still pressed on !!!!!!! ( the keyway was for timing marks !!!)(also GM manual says to mark them before removing, just for the fun of it, I guess !!!!!!!!!)

 

I'm not sure what point you're making. Stock LS series balancers and cranks are not keyed. The reason the GM manual says to mark them before removing is so if you do happen to be working on one of the engines that required a final balancing via the HB (again, the exception ... not the rule) then you can use that mark as a reference to reproduce the non-neutral balance on the new HB.

 

guess you didn't read complete thread ??? you just made my point, "ounce of prevention"

 

I have read the entire thread and the OP is replacing his HB with an aftermarket model. There are no provisions to put these fine tuning balance weights into any aftermarket HB's that I'm aware of. The correct answer is 'don't worry about it'. It's a fine tuning done on some manual trans cars only. The 'engine' doesn't need these weights (or else they'd be on auto-trans cars too with the same engine). And if you've replaced the flywheel or pressure plate the original hot balance is no longer valid anyways.

I suppose that if you are super worried about a slight vibration at idle on your 14+ year old Corvette with a manual trans, and you still have your original flywheel and pressure plate, you should only use an OEM HB and move the weights over to the new one and line up a scribe mark you made before you removed it, but what we're saying is that this is probably overkill.

 

It kinda went off the rails to be honest when you started talking about gen1/2 style balancers. This is the C5 Tech forum. :shrugs:

 

And that's what I did. I "didn't worry about it." The new balancer is now on, and the new ARP bolt is tightened to 240 lb-ft. Now just to try to get that damn steering rack back in there somehow. I tried loosening the 4 21mm nuts that should lower the front cradle for some extra clearance, but it didn't come down any at all. I had to take a wedge and drive it between the frame and the cradle to get some room to remove the rack, which I really don't feel is the right way to do it. So if anyone has a better suggestion I'd certainly appreciate the tip. The only other thing I can think of that could prevent the cradle from lowering is the engine mount bolts, but they are nearly impossible to get to it seems, and from what I've seen in certain videos and write ups, you shouldn't have to to loosenen any but the 4 that I did?

Anyways, I was able to start it for a short time after installing the new balancer and it is as smooth as can be, no more wobbling! Hopefully that means no more squeaking once the belts and accessories are back in place also. The only thing that slightly bothers me about this new balancer is that it is a little over 2.5lbs heavier than the stock one! But, I'm also installing an LS2 water pump that has a lighter pulley, so hopefully that will kinda even things out. Or at least, that's what I'm going to keep telling myself to make me feel better about it!

 

If you can get a friend to help with the rack, it's a big help. That is a pain in the *** when those tie rods are falling down and catching on stuff just as you're getting the bosses on the steering box caught on the frame and caught on the front cradle. It's maddening I know. If you have a second person to help get that tie rod to stay out of the way and keep from hooking on every damn thing, it makes the rack slide in there much easier.