That might be a clever marketing term but unless the dampening material is inside the CNC machines metal, I don't see it. It's just a big hunk of metal as best I can tell but I could be wrong.

 

Not second guessing, just wanting to get the facts.

 

It seems like it fails on the cars that are driven very hard, Not the street driven/show cars. I still would not want to take a chance on any engine damage.

 

most likely an under drive pulley, thats where the problems have been, power bond makes a SFI 18 rated one in stock dia. 1117-SS. IO like the ATI but $450 I'm getting the power bond one for $205 free shipping and no Ca tax

 

under drive pulleys don't matter who made it

 

That was my point, expect ATI

 

So - are there more failures with underdrive pulleys (regardless of manufacture) as compared to the standard diameter pulleys?

I'm getting a stock diameter ATI for what's it worth and piece of mind.

 

 

you are

 

yes timing chain failers almost always under drive

 

So what's inside the pulley then?

 

I'm probably going with the 10% super damper from ATI. Part # ATI-917278.

 

you have a "inner hub" that's the part that connects to the crank, then there's ether rubber{most common} or poly{ATI} , or as with fluid damper rubber shell with fluid in the middle, for externaly balanced motors these worked really well,I don't think there recommended for internally balanced motors, and then on the out side is called an inertia ring thats the part you see where the belt runs, the rubber "allows" the inertia ring to move around IE the inner hub is running in a circle the inertia ring is going lets say egg shaped, the problem with the new motors is their using the balancer for a belt pulley, hence the Factory doing more to "internally balance" the motor, nothings perfect hence the "harmonic balancer" problem is like I said is the belt, what did some one say the belt/tensioner under power is 348lbs? of force on the balancer, so that's ****ing with the balancing to say the least, you may also see the enertia ring trying to move forward or back ward on the rotor, hence the SFI 18 rating which means that the balancer is built in such a way as to limit the forward/backward movment and to keep the enertia ring from being thrown off, ATI does that and any other that has that rating, so they will look to run "TRUER" than stock, and as much as some of you like to POO-POO Power bond they make ALMOST all stock balancers both USA and out of the country, so they do know a thing about balancers, I don't know why the timing chains are failing, but EVERYONE I have read about on this forum, since I joined {early 07} has been with a underdrive, I suspect that with the smaller pulley the force that the belt has on the dampining effect is greater and it has an effect on the tension of the TC, call it WAVE if you will, I have an 06 LS2 man,and my belt squeeks in the morning on start up and the balancer really looks like it's wobbling or going in and out, I like the ATI you can rebuild it, but for $450 I can get the power bond SFI 18 for $200 and get it installed! when I supercharge the car I WILL get the ATI! if you track your car and they really go by the rules then you need one with the SFI 18 rating just sayin....

 

Very good easy to understand post.
For a brief further explaination go to the wikipedia link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_balancer

It's easy to see that if the spinning mass is altered or made lighter the impulse from the pistons has more of an effect on the crank possibly causing the timing chain to flop and / wave causing it to break. I would also think that the higher the horsepower the more impact the piston power pulse would put into the crank which would elevate the chance of failure.

 

Will reducing mass at the rear of the crank (light-weight clutch/flywheel) contribute to timing chain failures?

 

Redrocket1045

For what it's worth, considering the cost of rebuilding your engine should the timing chain break, I think ATI and a good chain is cheap insurance. I went with 10% UDP and Cloyes "Extreme Duty" chain set with billet steel gears. Both items are pricey, but less than pistons and all new valve.

John

 

I just bought the ATI 10% Super Damper from Colorado Speed for 413.00 shipped. I bought the belts from Amazon.

 

seen this combo break many times 3 times on one car

 

That's why I'm going with an ATI damper and a C5R TC.

 

Powerbond absolutely does have the rubber layer bonded between the inner hub and outer shell. There is a retaining ring over it. From my sales history and from what I've seen moving online it is a safe assumption that powerbond is easily the most used underdrive on LS engines and if there were a link between powerbond and timing chain failures it would be beyond evident at this point. For road race applications with extended intervals of sustained high RPMs I can see always recommending ATI (and do). For street warriors like most of us Powerbond is the way to go unless you just need the peace of mind from knowing you have an ATI.