beachbum5011

First off, the people on this forum have been great so far, very helpful!

I recently purchased a 02 coupe 6spd with 75K and am experiencing severe harmonic balancer death wobble, coupled with the noise that goes along with it. I've been researching replacements but am still getting mixed reviews. Can people chime in and give advice on what they think I should replace with? Also, If anyone can provide the total parts list of what I need so I can just bring the supplied parts to the mechanic, that would be greatly appreciated!. I am leaning towards ATI for a one and done application, but for the price is it overkill? Also, what other items do you guys recommend, since the steering rack will be out? I was thinking water pump, anything with the rack? anything else I am missing?

Thank you

99blkfrc99

99blkfrc99

beachbum5011

I am leaning toward the ATI, with APR bolt. No big power goals other than headers, X-pipe, axel back. But your comment about the cam has peaked my interest.....decisions, decisions. What cam would you suggest for street-ability?

Russell Boulding

Depends. If you're doing the work yourself an OE Balancer will probably last 5-7 years or more before you have to revisit it and can be had fairly inexpensively. But, even the new ones have a slight wobble. ATI is a great balancer. A lot more money and a little more work. But we install pinned ATI dampers with all of our supercharger builds and if a customer has any performance mod aspirations we recommend it so that the supercharger option is open in the future. If it were my car and I knew I was never going to put a blower on it. I'd go back with OE. If I thought there was a chance I'd mod it or if I drove a ton of miles I'd put an ATI on it. Get a new bolt. OE or ARP. OE has sealant on it that I like and I'm used to them but the ARP is fine as well you just have to add your own silicone sealant. If you are doing it yourself invest in the flywheel holding tool. Lots of vendors for those out there now so no reason to try and work around it.

beachbum5011

Here is the backstory. The car has been sitting for a bit, and I probably should of done more research on here before making the purchase decision. ie (look for all the bad quirks in the C5). Anyway, I suggested we take it to the closest Chevy Dealer, Richard Lucas Chevrolet (Avenel, NJ). They performed a "diagnostic service, and multipoint inspection". Horrible experience to say the least. The service manager, Harry, hung up on me and said it "wasn't his problem" when I called him asking for assistant as soon as I got home, after and bringing these problems to his attention. I explained to him that paid for service that I felt like I did not receive, and I asked what the next step was? No answer, this is why I am so bitter about the situation. I am not pointing all fingers at them as, I am still responsible for buying the car, but the dealership didn't even advise me of the codes that I found in the DIC later last night thanks to a fellow forum member, slo yelo c5. Anyway, thanks for all the help and in a few weeks I'll look back at this and be smiling as the sun is shining down, targa off, as I am shifting gears!

beachbum5011

Thanks Russell, what about the powerbond HB?? better than GM, but less than ATI?

99blkfrc99

99blkfrc99

Russell Boulding

I don't particularly care for Dayco the parent company of Powerbond. Just personal anecdotal experience, your mileage may vary. And my normal practice is OE or the best the aftermarket has to offer. I don't typically deal in the in between or budget stuff. Some people like them I don't have much experience with them to give an educated opinion.

Slo Yelo C5

Can anybody provide a FULL list of all parts needed for a balancer replacement? I did mine a while ago. If i remember, it was a...

balancer itself, crank seal, Loctite blue, belts (x2 --serpentine belt and accessory belt?), ARP bolt...and aren't there 1 or 2 other miscellaneous parts needed for the balancer replacement?

Smoken1

There are alot of post's on the Forum about the OEM junk. Most ppl use the Powerbond PB1117N (stock size) and the ARP bolt 234-2503 and a new GM front seal

ArmchairArchitect

There are a couple other "while you're in there items" you should do:

Steering rack bushings, and front crankshaft seal (cheap). Also possibly the front balljoint boots and motor mounts after assessing their condition.

Russell Boulding

I know a lot of people hate on the OEM. I install them for a living and here is my observation. When an OEM part lasts 100k miles "it is junk" when an aftermarket part lasts 50k miles "that's as good as you could ask for". There's definitely a double standard in my observations. Most of the OEM balancer failures are happening at around 60-70k miles and a lot of years. Many make it beyond that. But time plays a role. Rubber and adhesives have a working life and nothing lasts forever. In this case the OEM provided 16 yrs and 75k miles. Hardly worthy of being described as junk. And the OE powertrain warranty was 3yr/36k miles three times the Dayco warranty and less than half as long as the part actually lasted. I don't doubt the powerbond pulley. I don't have enough data to recommend it. We've seen ATIs hold up to supercharger build where others have failed so we prefer those in that application. We have a lot of evidence to support OEM balancers going at least 10 years and 60k miles. We don't have the same body of evidence for the Powerbond although there is a lot of anecdotal evidence supporting it as a quality product. I think any of the three is a good choice. Just wanted to offer my defense of the OE part that while not being top notch is certainly not worthy of the derision it gets. You can't expect a component that has rubber and adhesive as part of its construction to last indefinitely in that environment.

Smoken1

Read this thread about using a new OEM part, post #6 has all the info in it
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...it-or-not.html

Russell Boulding

That's kind of my point. That is a one off failure. It is one sample among millions of possible data points. It is statistically irrelevant. And my warranty is 3yrs/36k miles and I've never replaced one under warranty, a lot more data points than just one. And have serviced many of the same vehicles for 100k miles and seen failures consistent with the mileage obtained by the original part. Not knocking powerbond at all. I don't have the data to back anything up. Their reputation is very good and wouldn't recommend someone not get that brand. I've just decided that in my shop if we deviate from the OEM design we are going to go all the way and get an ATI balancer. That comes down to preference. I'd put the OEM on my own car in a second. If someone gifted me a powerbond I'd install it without reservation as well. If someone gifted me a Dayco belt or an ACDelco belt for an LS1/6 I'd chuck either and buy a Continental Elite. It comes down to experience and preference. I get really good prices on OEM parts and I would discourage anyone from counting out the OEM balancer based on internet hype. But, the powerbond has a solid reputation.

pjensen

One more data point.

I have a 2004 Corvette C5 with 171,000 miles on it. It is a daily driver. It still has the original harmonic balancer on it. I've marked it, looking for slippage and checked it for wobble. None so far.

That said, I bought another OEM harmonic balancer as I was expecting trouble (from reading the forum posts). I think I got my money's worth on the original....

vettenuts

Below is a quote taken from Kurt Urban, who is a wealth of technical knowledge and historical information on the LS1 and its development and racing. Take from it what you will, but I used the ATI when I replaced mine. The ATI can also be rebuilt. You send just the dampener section back to ATI and they will rebuild and return. So the ATI should be a lifetime installation. Note that because the ATI is in pieces, you don't have to "pull" it to remove the dampener, it simply unbolts from the hub.

"We did test all the popular dampers then (2001) and the ATI was best followed by the stock one if your rpm was under 7000."

acuevo

acuevo