my 1999 harmonic replacement and winter upgrades
 

Hi all, using this thread to track and share progress on my work on my car I'm going to be doing. Hope you can help and share some tips!

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...853cfc9e6c.jpg

Im working on replacing the harmonic balancer and going to do the water pump now too. Front of cars up on stands.

Anyone know if I can replace these bushings or just get this whole part? I think they are called end links.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...913d6c3214.jpg

I have the front of the car up on pucks rear tires sitting on a 2x10 and chocked. The extra jackstand is just in case and not loaded.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...f8e5f68d40.jpg

Anyone borrowed a kit from auto zone to do this job? I believe I'll need 27139 and maybe 27144 will help with the install.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...dbae359839.jpg

A standard three jaw puller works great on the damper. the installer is required, I made my own from a section of roll bar tubing, some flat bar, the bolt I took out, and a piece of acme thread all thread and a nut. welded the acme threaded rod to the bolt after removing the head, slide it through the tubing and crank it on. The OEM damper has little recesses to catch the three jaws of a three jaw puller.

Those sway bar end links, but the Moog all metal ones, much better. Get four, do the rears too.

Auto or Stick? You have to lock the flywheel on an auto. This means that you have to drop the exhaust down and move the starter over to get the Flywheel lock in place. You Do Not have to take the wires off of the starter. To get the rack out, you have to drop the cradle down about 5/8 of an inch to get the rack head out. Make sure that your jack stands are under the front pucks on the rocker panel. O2 sensor wires on the exhaust are long enough to just drop the exhaust down on the floor and slide it out of the way.. Most important thing on this project is to bungee cord the steering wheel straight ahead so that it cant move. If it accidently spins on you..........well, you dont want to know. Harmonic ballancer bolt is 240 foot lbs. Use a 3/4 drive ratchet with a 3 foot cheater pipe on it. 6 point impact socket only. Put in a new front seal also. I think that the 6 point impact socket was 15\16ths. A good replacement balancer is the Powerbond/Dayco PB1117SS Race. $250 dollors from Summit or Jegs. Hope these tips help you. Mine is a 1998. Good Luck.

I used a method to hold my balancer that does not require removing the starter. I used my old belt to hold the crankshaft from turning. As stated above you have to lower the front cradle a small amount to be able to get clearance for the steering rack out of the way. I supported my car at the four jacking points rather than on the front cradle as you have you car supported now.

Here is a link to the method:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ving-bolt.html

This method ^^^^^ can damage the rubber ring between the hub and outer ring of the balancer. Also, the crank is supposed to be held when torquing the bolt - not the outer section of the balancer. This is not the proper method for several reasons. Lock the crank properly when doing the install and use the installation tool to prevent stripping out the crank.

Hi guys the rack is out. This is a manual transmission car.

You can replace those sway bar end links with inexpensive Moog units. Be sure to get the metal bodied ones (not plastic!)

I am doing the same winter project...not looking forward to it personally..did you just unbolt the ebcm and push it up a bit?

correct. I've heard you can push it up a set of bolt holes but I didn't do that.

Steering racks out! Should have pulled balancer tonight but was lazy.

:sleep:

Cool.....Thanks

I got the rack and pulley bolt out. measured the crank end to pulley at 3.26mm.

I think I may have pushed the tie rods in a bit during removal. also, I dont have the steering wheel bungied as I saw some others do.

That steering wheel needs to be locked down, if that accidental rotates, you will have more issues

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...2f2c7330c0.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...30fb7630c7.jpg
I got my rack out and pulled the balancer yesterday. I installed the new balancer as well. It went on pretty easy after heating the balancer hub with a heat gun.

My Racks back bolted in, as of this morning. Here's some pics:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...585729aa26.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...bc19f39419.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...77e6be6166.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...f5a55fbb55.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...2b43fcc1c0.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...c09788417d.jpg

Nice

Stubborn balacer
 

how exactly are you trying to take it off? Some say you can borrow the Chrysler puller from autozone. I used a 3 arm puller from a friend and it was like 20 years old. Make sure it grabs the balancer on the inside through the slots it should pull out. But what are you using for the puller to screw up against so it can pull it out? What worked for me was to screw the crank bolt in so it's in far enough thread wise but is not butted again the crank hub. The center screw of the puller was placed on the center of the bolt. This started it nicely..
you will have to remove the puller so you can unscrew the crank bolt a bit so you can pull it further...you should only do this a couple of times as you will lose thread count each time you loosen it...at this point you can use another bolt with a small head so the balancer hub can pass by it....I used a bolt that came with my crank pinning kit....

Be certain you are not pressing on the snout of the harmonic damper and trying to pull it against itself - be sure that you are properly pressing on the crank and pulling the damper.