harmonic balancer help!!!!

Supercharged90

Registered User
i found out yesterday i broke the balancer off my motor, car died. on my way home from work, i got the balancer off, but still have that slug of metal still in my motor, any tips,tricks, or ideas on how to get that out after i drill the rest of the bolt out? thanks for anything, its all appreciated.
 
Join the club. All the advice I can give you is take it to a machine shop. That's what I am going to have to do if I keep my car because my balancer is completely junk. Probably buying a new one if I can get it off the motor.
 
You can drill two small holes 180 degrees from each other into the collar that is still on the crank.....

Screw in some sheet metal screws and use them to slowly pry the "slug" off the end of the crank.....

Good luck....
 
ok, now im not intelligent when it comes to these, i play it by ear, and learn as i go, being a first time sc owner for the past 9 months, first dramatic failure i guess you would say. could it have hurt the crank inside the motor?
 
Last edited:
I've broken several balancers in my SC ownership, it appears more daunting that it really is. Weekend job at best with some paitence and minor wrenching knowledge.

If the balancer bolt broke, I've had success with a dremel multi-tool and a carbide bit from Lowes. Just get it started in the middle and keep WD40 handy to keep lubricating the area while drilling. This keep the bit clean from loading up. A little timely but it works if you have paitence. After that smack a small EZ out in it and it should come right out - this has worked 3 out of 4 times doing this. The 4th the bolt just turned out by hand and no drilling was required.

As for getting the remaining portion of the crank snout, the drilling and walking it off is quiet popular or remove the front cover and get it that way...again depends on your level of comfort.

-Tim
 
I've replaced a few of these myself. If you are talking about the bolt in the center of the crank, you may get lucky. Most of the time, I used a reverse drill to start drilling into the bolt with the intent of using an easy out. So far, every time, the bolt has just spun out by itself, without actually having to drill a hole into it.
 
How about worst case scenario like my nightmare. I went to replace my front seal on my Marauder, I used a puller and pulled the pulley off without any issues, I replaced the seal and now its time to install my pulley. I have steeda underdrives and they give you a longer crank bolt to suck the pulley up. Turns out I lost it and didnt have any time or a chance to find a replacement. My idea was to use the old crankbolt with a thinner washer to catch the threads and suck the pulley up. I manage to do just that, grab some threads and suck it in. Half way through pulling in the pulley the bolt gets real tight and stops turning. Yeah its panic time. I start reversing it out and it stops after a few turns. Turns out I cross threaded my crank :(
After a few more attempts the head of the bolt finally snaps off and I have a flush cross-threaded bolt in my crank. :eek:
The solution.....I called my friend who was armed with cobalt bits and a lot of free time. He drilled for 4 straight hours making sure the bit was straight and that we didnt snap a bit in the crank as well. Finally the bolt came out in several pieces and I was lucky that the threads in the crank weren't damaged as well. I got a new crank bolt, ran a tap through the threads a few times and I was able to install the pulley and torque the crank bolt. I shall never EVER remove that pulley or bolt again.

Moral of the story, even in the worst case scenario, there is still a option to removing the crank bolt without a machine shop. If the threads were destroyed or I couldnt get it out THEN I would be pulling a engine out or replacing it.
You have a threaded bolt in the crank so you should be alright with a little drilling and tapping.
 
Back
Top