Harmonic Balancer Bolt Broke Off

1990tbirdsc

Registered User
i have a 1990 t-bird SC,,, auto ,,, and the harmonic balancer bolt has broke in half and half is still in the shaft ,,, it also sheered the keyway off and threw the car off time and wouldent start .... soo i need to know if anyone has a harmonic balancer with good pulleys and a bolt .... because i dont want to go POOR buying it from ford ..... or tell me where i can get the stuff ,,, i dont know much but can i / or should i get bigger pulleys to make the car a little faster ,,,, or will it even help ,,, ??:cool:

i live in granite city
illinois ,, 62040..
 
I just changed one out in one of my birds I went with BHJ the stock pieces are not the greatest things. I would not put used stuff on the car because you will have to do it again sooner or later and you have no idea what shape the stuff is in! I went to Ford to get one of the bolts that holds the pulley on the balancer and they told me that the things came as a kit pulley,bolts and balancer and refused me a bolt. I forgot what they said it cost full retail but it was in the $550 range he said he would give it to me for four and change and I laughed and declined his offer. All I needed was a bolt! The BHJ are nice and I went with a set of ASP pulleys and it cost me a little more than what Ford wanted and it is much better stuff. The pulleys gave it a little more pep but not to much. You can get the balancer and pulleys from here.
http://www.spinningwheels-sc.com/

Good luck with it
 
i just went through this less than 5 days ago...i took the route not recommended by replacing mine with a stock replacement...it was only 50 bucks for the balancer compared to the 350 for the bhj balancer......

things to look in for.....

first ur gonna have to drill out both left in neck of hardmonic balancer.....its alluminuin so its very easy to drill in to....the use self-taping screws and pull out with plyers....(look at pic)

second will be the broken bolt.....first check to see if it is loose(most are when broken) if not use an easy-out to get out.....allso pretty easy to remove.....


third check crank sensor.....may have been damage during braking of balancer......mine wasnt but u never know....



when ur ready so install replacement....be sure to have a new bolt(one from a newer style mustang 3.8 works) a balancer installer (autozone rental) a lil loctite.....some gasket sealer and patience.....


when u go to tighten the crank bolt be sure to prevent the motor from turning......some recommend jammin the flywheel or pressure plate or even putting the car into drive..........i personally tighten the bolt as hard as i could.......the reinstalled all belts and had a friend hold belts and then i tighten it.....the tensioners and pulleys applied plenty of resistance for me to tighten the bolt to 120lbs....

if u go with the bhj balancer follow theses instructions:

http://www.mn12performance.com/mn12how-to/BHJ/BHJ-install.html




n e othe q's...let me know or any one else on here

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a63/dann315/Untitled-1copy-1.jpg


http://www.sccoa.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=21172&d=1151761648
 
David Neibert said:
Hate to say I told you so, but I told you so..:rolleyes:

http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showpost.php?p=561974&postcount=8

If you want to fix it right....buck up for a BHJ balancer and a new bolt. Super Coupe Performance, BTM and Spinning Wheels all carry the BHJ and the correct bolt. Chances are very good that the crank sensor was also damaged, so you may want to replace it while you have the balancer off.

David

Odd, I agreed with you in that post as well, that's pretty much what happened to mine 600 km after my rebuild
 
$350.00 :eek: seems REAL expensive for an HB but if it will prevent further occurances it might be the only way.
 
Many will say that is a high price to pay for a balancer. But, if you look at it from the point of what can happen....... it is a small price to pay. Broke crank, window the block and that is going to much more expensive. :)
 
My only advice is DO NOT use locktite on the hb bolt. If you want real grief, you'll have plenty of it if you ever have to take out a broken piece of bolt. I don't think you will break a bolt using a BHJ hb, but locktite is just not needed. John
 
AnnivSpeCpe said:
My only advice is DO NOT use locktite on the hb bolt. If you want real grief, you'll have plenty of it if you ever have to take out a broken piece of bolt. I don't think you will break a bolt using a BHJ hb, but locktite is just not needed. John


Ill second this quote!! And its not much to pay for Peace of Mind.

Mike
 
Well the car was purchased from my nephew. His brother bought the car in 2000 with 68,000 miles. I have maintained the vehicle since 2000.



The car has the following things replaced:

both lower control arms
both upper control arms
strut rods bushings
motor mounts
timing chain and tensioner
Ford factory replacement ARC shocks
rebuilt steering rack & pinion
rebuilt p/s pump
newer A/C compressor and 134a conversion
Art Carr Street/Strip AOD with 10" 2400 stall locking converter
new water pump
all new hoses
new headgaskets @ 80,000 miles
new Ford harmonic balancer
just received new Autolite spark plugs and motorcraft wires before being sold.


As for the balancer, it was replaced with a new Ford balancer and crank pulley in I think 2002. At that time, the car would just die randomly and not restart. Upon checking the car we found the crank bolt head to be missing. So we pulled the balancer and even though it was intact and looked fine we bought a new unit. The crank keyway was undamaged and after replacing the crank senser we installed the new balancer. We installed a new Ford 98 Mustang V6 crank bolt and washer at that time as well.


I don't know why a new Ford balancer would go bad. This car has been stock except for MAC CAI since 2000, not even a blower pulley.

Unfortunetly. I too would have to recommend the BHJ balancer since nothing else seems to hold up. I have replaced the balancer on my 89 SC in 2003 due to the same problem you have right now.



Jerry
 
Im not sure why the original wouldnt hold up either, but what I can say is that when I replaced mine the first time with a reman balancer, I thought I would be good to go.

But I also had the bolt snap a few more times, and finally went with the BHJ, luckily so far so good.

If you havent got the pieces off the crank yet, what I did was drill a really small hole in the piece thats left on there, and screwed a screw in on a slide hammer and carefully tapped off the leftover piece off. Worked great for me. As far as the broken bolt, once again drill a small hole in the middle and get yourself one of them reverse drill bits like ThunderRoad mentioned.

Also I had enough room to work with JUST the fan and shroud out of the way, that way you dont have to disconnect the radiator and mess with all the coolant.

Mike
 
The issue is that the crankshaft end dimensions vary and so it's pot luck if the reman balancer has any chance of fitting unless they make the inside diameter under tollerance and then machine for final fit at install time.

Not to mention the stock unit uses an aluminum center section that will deform over time.
 
i just went through this less than 5 days ago...i took the route not recommended by replacing mine with a stock replacement...it was only 50 bucks for the balancer compared to the 350 for the bhj balancer......

things to look in for.....

first ur gonna have to drill out both left in neck of hardmonic balancer.....its alluminuin so its very easy to drill in to....the use self-taping screws and pull out with plyers....(look at pic)

second will be the broken bolt.....first check to see if it is loose(most are when broken) if not use an easy-out to get out.....allso pretty easy to remove.....


third check crank sensor.....may have been damage during braking of balancer......mine wasnt but u never know....



when ur ready so install replacement....be sure to have a new bolt(one from a newer style mustang 3.8 works) a balancer installer (autozone rental) a lil loctite.....some gasket sealer and patience.....


when u go to tighten the crank bolt be sure to prevent the motor from turning......some recommend jammin the flywheel or pressure plate or even putting the car into drive..........i personally tighten the bolt as hard as i could.......the reinstalled all belts and had a friend hold belts and then i tighten it.....the tensioners and pulleys applied plenty of resistance for me to tighten the bolt to 120lbs....

if u go with the bhj balancer follow theses instructions:

http://www.mn12performance.com/mn12how-to/BHJ/BHJ-install.html




n e othe q's...let me know or any one else on here

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a63/dann315/Untitled-1copy-1.jpg


http://www.sccoa.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=21172&d=1151761648
What year mustang harmonice bolt to use
 
If you read Shockwave's reply-Sept 6/2006 He used a bolt for a 98 3.8.

I don't think that's correct & I wouldn't use it- but?
 
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