Harmonic balancer tech. help

b0coat01

Registered User
Would there be any problems if I bought a cheap autozone balancer (reg. V6) and had it machined to be zero balance as well as the crank pulley...
I read something about removing the old pins from the balancer and installing them into the new zero balanced harmonic balancer, but wouldn't this throw it of zero balance? Thanks Guys!
 
Yeah, you are correct that it will throw it out of "zero" balance as an assembly, but it will put it in correct balance with "your" engine. I am no expert, though.
 
How much would the balancer from Autozone cost you? You can acquire a new factory SC balancer from fivestarford.com for $150. If the difference in cost is not great, this would likely be your best option.
 
Do a search, there are a lot of threads on this. When you buy your new balancer it should come with a pulley, and should be balanced. Those pins are to balance the balancer to the pulley not the engine. You should not have to add any pins.
As far as using a N/A v6 balancer, I don't think it would work. The SC balancer has a hall effect ring on the back that the N/A does not.
 
Last edited:
Those pins are to balance the balancer to the pulley not the engine.

I think your wrong about that...the pins are added at the factory only to those engines that needed them for balancing the engine. If your not rebuilding and rebalancing the engine and are just replacing the stock dampner, the pins should be transferred over to the new balancer.

That is why no pins come with the new OEM balancer and pulley assembly.

David
 
I hope I'm not wrong. My old balancer had 2 pins and I just installed a zero balanced BHJ and aluminum pulley. No sign of vibration.
Most of what I've read leans toward the pins being for the pulley not the engine. It's my understanding that the 3.8 is internally balanced.
 
David, if you were supposed to move the pins to a new Ford balancer why wouldn't there be some warning or instructions in the Ford box? I have bought two Ford balancers for two different SCs and both came in the original Ford box with nothing in there. Also, our engines are internally balanced not external. 5.0s and regular 3.8s are externally balanced. The the original balancer on my 89 SC had two pins and the pulley had no weight. The new Ford balancer had no pins but there was a quarter sized weight welded to thei nside of the crank pulley. I wouldn't transfer any pins to a new balancer. Another way to look at it is the BHJ comes zero balanced with no pins right? If some SCs needed some weight for balancing then you would have all sorts of trouble.
 
Yeah I reread the thread you linked David, I still agree with Vernon. So I don't recommend reusing the pins.


Jerry
 
i transfered my pin mine had 1 and my pulley had a washer welded to it i put it on new one in the same hole as the old one and i put pully on the same hole it came off im pretty sure this is correct it works great
 
Last edited:
Thanks

I think I get the picture now...no pins because the enigine is already internally balanced and the harm.bal.+pulley must be zero balanced.

What is this "hall effect ring" on the back of the N/A V6 balancers? I can't recall anything like this on the one I picked up from autozone...

I'm going to use the N/A V6 balancer on my 95 supercoupe...we'll see if this will work or not...

The balancer I have had an external balancer on it, so I took it to a machine shop and when I told the machinist that I've had quotes of $416 +S/H for the stock ford unit he agreed to zero balance the externally balanced bal. (cutting off the huge chunk of metal) He also has my pulley which is also getting zero balanced separate from the balancer...that's all I've got.

If there's a problem I'll be back here letting everyone know...if successful...
 
Last edited:
Hall effect is an on/off switch which is basically what the crank sensor is. The vanes on the balancer go through the gap on the crank sensor and interrupt the site every revolution thus timing the crank with the cam sensor and the #1 cylinder. Or something like that. You need these vanes on your balancer which is why you need a SC specific balancer because theses vanes travel through a gap of only about .030" on the sensor.
 
You may want to consider a BHJ balancer. I had 2 stock units break. The BHJ is steel vs. the aluminum stock unit. I don't think I will ever have to worry about the balancer again. They cost about the same as the stockers, there is a group buy going on in that forum. You could check and see if they will still give you that price. I bought an aluminum pulley from SCI. Both balancer and pulley come zero balanced. I did have to use a 1 3/8 inch ball hone to remove a little material to fit the balancer to my crank, but I think it's worth it. The hone cost about 25 with shipping and took about 2. mins to use. It looks great and runs fine. And I know if I ever need to pull the balancer I can. The stock unit is one time install only.
The Hall effect ring is the stamped steel ring on the back of your old balancer. It's held on by those torx screws on the earlier SC's. The later ones have this sprocket looking thing. In either case you need to transfer this to your new balancer. I don't believe the N/A balancers have the holes to mount this. The stock SC and BHJ balancers both have the required holes. Good luck
 
Don't use a N/A balancer, think that through again. We have people here that are debating the use of little pins and worring about keeping everything just right, and you think you are going to just cobble together a N/A balancer to use? The price of the crank far out weighs the cost of the money you could save on the balancer. You can't possible save more than $150 doing it this way plus you risk damaging the crank. You can get a ford unit for around $215 from fordpartsnetwork.com or Joe Cooper Ford

Jerry
 
The balancer I have has the hall effect ring...

Can anyone see any mechanical reasons that this will not work?

Yes...there is much discussion about the pins but the pins have mass and using them or not could put the unit in or out of balance. I'm having a machine shop balance the N/A balancer with the pulley to zero balance.

Why would this be such a horrible idea? I know that the BHJ balancer's are much better but they cost too much just like the ford units(at the least $320) I need a temporary solution so that I can make enough money to buy the better unit if the one I have decides to fail...
 
3.8L/SC Balancer

Motormite sells a replacement balancer for the 94-up 3.8L. $105

Item Number: 594-051
Description: Harmonic Balancers
Brand: DORMAN
Application: 1997-94 3.8L (232) Ford Windstar, T-Bird, Mustang II, Mercury Cougar

Type : Solid w/Sensor Ring
Diameter : 6" Dia.
Width : 3-1/2" Wide
Weight (lbs.) : 4.9
Make & OE# : Ford F6ZZ 6B321-A

5012555.jpg
 
Rich the balancer that you are listing from Motormite is for the NA 3.8 correct. Are you listing this as an alternate replacement that would need to be machined to work or is it a direct fit for the 94 - 95 SC.

Thanks

Dale
 
Since the crank pulley is swapped over it will work on a DIS engine. Sorry but no difference between the NA and SC balancer. Guess that is why they break.
 
Rich that N/A balancer has a big counterweight, or material was removed You can see it in the picture. So it won't work on the 94-95 Sc without having it machined off.
 

Attachments

  • 5012555.jpg
    5012555.jpg
    9.6 KB · Views: 153
Last edited:
Back
Top