Hello, sitting here watching it sleet and snow, to cold to tinker in unheated garage, I have a 2005 c6 and I inspected the crank pulley/hb for wobble and only detected a slight amount, my question is now that I have checked it and don’t see much out of the ordinary should I leave it along and be mindful to listen and look regularly or maybe since it sounds like some of the problems was the bolt came out and rubbed against the power steering maybe I should go ahead and put a new bolt and loctite and leave it at that for now? I really don’t want to fix it if it ain’t broke to the tune of $1500, I’m getting to old to do it myself! Thanks for your thoughts, topkat 75.l understand that balancer just falls apart on some of these also, nothing to do with bolt? Thanks

 

I sure wouldn’t touch it unless I was going to replace the whole thing. I have an ATI balancer with an ARP bolt and no problems since installation. How many miles on the car, and what kinda driving do you do? Mild driving would lead me to leave it alone. If you are making more HP than factory and if you like to Rev it to 6,500 - 7,000……I would be inclined to replace. Mine just couldn’t take the extra HP after I got it back from RPM. My factory balancer honestly didn’t have much wobble, but upon inspection after removal?? It was poised to come apart at any moment.

I knew it needed replacement due to belt squeal in spite of a new alternator and serpentine belt.

 

I tend to say, if it aint broke dont fix it. Mine did not appear to wobble at idle. It had to be moving around because the belt would squeal, a lot. Sometime when cold and sometimes hot. I bought a hi perf one from Summit Racing for $200 and paid $650 to have it installed. All fixed. Strange thing is the one that came off looks new. It also days China on it and has a part number that shows up nowhere when searched.

 

Car has 32000 and I drive it pretty easy, an occasional run thru the gears, no track use. I’m just kind of worried about it and don’t to just let it go if I need to delve deeper.

 

I’m not sure how anybody can drive and enjoy their car knowing there is an issue that could leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere and all the problems associated with that.
I purchased my 07 last year with 35k miles, wobble was barely perceivable and it squeaked intermittently. Local dealership quoted $1600 to R&R with stock parts, I used this to negotiate. I marked my balancer and within a week it had moved.
I prefer to plan my repairs as opposed to leaving it to chance and the other damage a failure could cause. You do you but I would at least mark it and keep a very close eye on it and hopefully it doesn’t bite you in the A$$. 👍

 

Hey that’s a good idea I think I’ll at lease change the hb bolt to possibly prevent it from backing out and mark the pulley and check it until I can replace with after market unit, thanks for your input.

 

Has anyone tried drilling, tapping and installing two opposing bolts and washers between inner and outer section of hb to prevent slipping or coming off, just a thought, I haven’t looked maybe not enough room to get in there to drill and tap holes and possibly bad idea, just thinking about alternatives to spending $1600.00 to fix it.

 

Pretty tight in there. You’d have to be pretty careful about keeping the “bolts” exactly opposite and removing the same amount of material from both sides so as to not induce a vibration. If you do the work yourself it’s considerably cheaper especially if you already have a decently equipped garage and it affords you the opportunity to take care of some other things such as timing chain guide/tensioner, front main seal etc.

 

Thanks, I’ll have to sleep on it, the only thing I don’t have is a lift.

 

Thanks again, for sure pin the crank!!!

 

Yes, there are two different failure modes: 1) bolt backs off and the balancer walks off the crank, and 2) balancer pulley detaches from balancer hub.

GM pretty much fixed the first problem in the first model year with the addition of a diamond washer. I suspect most loose bolts since were caused by improper installation post-factory.

Installing the bolt is the most difficult part of the job. If you're going to all the effort to replace the bolt you might as well do the balancer while you're at it.

 

You know I am curious, it seems odd that on some of these cars the crank pulley, hb flies apart, on others the crank bolt backs out, is one causing the other, I saw where the balancer slips then eventually comes off, or separates into two parts, what has that got to do with crankshaft front bolt working loose, or is it coming loose from pulley slipping on the crank and that lets it work loose, maybe we should loctite bolt on all of them. I may try replacing crank bolt, loctite it pin the crank and drill, tap and add bolts between two halves of balancer. Just need to see if enough room to work in, looks darn tight from top.

 

Making room to work is what makes the job expensive. Most of the time involved is dropping the cradle and/or pulling the steering rack for access. You have to do that in order to replace the bolt or pin the crank. You should also lock the flywheel.

With all that prep work done, it would take little additional time to actually replace the balancer.

In other words, the work you're considering doing to avoid balancer replacement is 90% of the effort of balancer replacement.

 

Oh I see what you mean, I thought I could update it, at the very least just replace the bolt and star washer, then mark it the hb and keep an I on it till spring when it won’t be so cold in my unheated garage or possibly find a place with a lift and some help with the job. Oh well thanks for the information, I’ll think of something!!!

 

If it wasn't stated already, you can't just easily replace the HB bolt as the bolt is long and the distance between the HB and steering rack is short.
Making that gap wider is the labor intensive part of the job. i.e.....moving the rack or lowering the engine.
Not sure if you can even fab a wrench to get in there to check if loose.

 

Oh my, had no idea was gonna be so difficult, thanks for all the info and I guess I better start getting my ducks in a row!!$$, I had to replace the steering rack on a 2000 c 5 with auto trans and it took me two days off and on, without a lift, sounds like similar issue plus drilling and pinning crank, so I will start ordering all needed parts and looking for lift to use and some strong buddies help,!! ATI balancer and ARP bolts, car has 32000, should I dig deeper, other than new seal and pin kit and of course drive belt, I had thought about removing radiator for cleaning and new water pump, and thermostat. Will having the radiator and w/pump off be of any help? Looks like it will add a small amount of extra space to work in, also I’m gonna remove hood possibly, and clean under hood sound pad, have I missed anything important??, thanks again folks.

 

Pin kiT you need .....The ATI balancer has a key way
you will need steering fluid and it can't hurt to change belts


https://www.summitracing.com/parts/a...hoCNfYQAvD_BwE

 

Here is a write-up i made when I did mine a few years ago. Everyone is concerned about how long it takes so I decided I would break it down into 15 minute tasks for a better understanding of what is involved. You can disregard the extra steps I included like water pump and PS hose replacements if not needed.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-write-up.html

 

I also have an '05 with 35K on it. The HB had a fair amount of wobble and when I got it out you could see some of the rubber squeezed out on one side and drawn in on the opposite. Left alone it would eventually have failed. That said if your wobble is minor and you don't drive it hard just keep on driving and have an occasional look to see if the problem has increased to where you think it's time. As said you cannot easily replace the bolt. Because the rack is so close to the HB and dead center you need to remove the rack and by that time you might just as well replace the balancer. This is really not a difficult project but it is time consuming and you need jack stands and the right tools. The bolt needs to be torqued to 240 pounds which means you need a 250 pound torque wrench or use the 37 pound and 140 degree method. I did this myself and I'm no spring chicken, although I had my son help. While you can pin the new balancer I didn't bother as I have no intention of adding a super charger which is the main reason to pin one. The dealers will usually get $1200 to $1500 for the job and install a factory style HB unless you provide it! If you're not going to tackle it yourself find a private shop that has done a few and use either an ATI or PowerBond balancer, ARP bolt/washer kit, and replace the front seal. You should be able to get this all done well under $1000 parts and labor. In the mean time don't lose sleep over a minor wobble until it get's worse.

 

The wobble WILL get worse. Put a balancer upgrade on your to do list. It's a huge pain, so plan to do it along with other upgrades you plan to do one day. If the belt start chirping, move it up to the top of the list.

Mine would chip with typical parts store belt. I was able to quiet it with a Continental belt(formerly Goodyear Gatorback I believe). Replaced with ATI Superdamper when I did heads/cam. ATI has ZERO wobble.

You don't want the balancer to get so bad it fails.