Harmonic Balancer Replacement Question
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,527
Likes: 34
I appreciate all the input from everyone, I am getting quite an education. I was first told about the "new" HB by the Corvette mechanic at a local dealer where I went for an inspection last week, he said he had been installing the new design units for awhile and had in fact installed one on his Vette. Wanting more info, I called 2 local independent and highly respected repair shops and asked both about the ATI unit which I was leaning towards, they BOTH recommended the new OEM unit, saying it was considerably cheaper and that GM had fixed the problems associated with the older ones. After posting my question on the forum, I got a PM from a friend who told me that his car was in the same dealer (that I used for the inspection) for warranty work including a HB and they would not put the old type balancer in his car, they kept it there for almost a month until the newly redesigned balancers arrived and installed one of those, this was back in April/May 2012. He also said he talked to a Chevrolet rep at Carlisle who acknowledged to him that Chevrolet knew they had problems with the old design and had redesigned the units and were using a new vendor to manufacture the parts. Hope this helps a little....that being said, I am going to talk to another mechanic about this but right now am leaning towards an ATI unit.
Thanks to all for your help!
Thanks to all for your help!
IMO. From the repair shops/dealer stand point, if they suggest to stay with OEM, than, they are the only one will reap future benefits.
It is an impossibility (as I'd posted in Technical/Performance Section) in toolmaking, to machine the precision die/mold, then mold the elastomer to join ferrous inner/outer rings and able to have an concentric runout. To compound the problematic situation, the inner ring essentially is fixed while the outer ring has to deal with tremendous twisting torque from the V-8. All the while, shelf life and heat are adding to the equation. Certainly a nightmare in the making for us ToolMaker types.
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Now, my personnel observation, another problematic part that further influence the Harmonic Damper's life is the OEM Tensioner Damper. It is another poorly put together item and marginally satisfying the belt tension need. Have you ever see how the Tensioner reacts when someone giving the motor a quick rev? Aside with other detrimental issues, Tensioner's sloppy fit will transfer the eccentric runout harmonic - maybe appears to be unseen to the naked eyes, thru the belt to the OEM Harmonic Damper. After I changed to ATI (stock size to preserve the damping need), I witnessed there was a slight run out, I called ATI, their responds was: it is natural with some cranks - I said "WHAT????". Then I switched to an Katech Tensioner unit (after switching out the Katech pulley bearing to an Japan bearing - another story), guess what, zero runout.
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Take note, I was not having Damper problem and not wanting to become a statistic, I was being proactive by switching to ATI and Katech combination to have a smooth running engine - That is what I have.
Another food for thoughts.
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"Proof is in the pudding". Where is a single picture on the "New & Improved" OEM Damper?
