Just finished balancer. Some thoughts.
08-11-2006, 09:13 PM
#1
5th Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location:
Posts: 3,768
Just finished balancer. Some thoughts.
I just got my new balancer on, and buttoned everything back together. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
So after I pulled the fan, shroud, and crank pulley, I attempted to break loose the balancer bolt by hammering the handle of my ratchet. I did this for a few minutes, but was only able to turn the motor over. I was reluctant to use the starter-bump method, so I went through mine and a neighbors toolboxes, and dug out an assortment of breaker bars, forked prybars, giant wrenches and C-clamps--none of which were effective at breaking down the morale of that bolt.
Then, I rotated the task in my mind so that I could look at it from a different vantage point, and it came to me. This is what finally worked: I took a mammoth set of vice-grips and clamped them onto one of the bolt flanges/fins on the old balancer. Then I stacked plywood under the handle of the vice-grips so that they couldn't rotate. Then I took an old needle-style torque wrench (useless) that I had in the garage, and layed into the bolt with medium force. The poor bolt screeched as it broke loose, as if to say, "you may have won, but my scream will echo in your mind forever, and haunt your dreams." Then I broke out the balancer puller, and the process accelerated from there.
Observations:
1. About 2 cups of what looked like potting soil was caked into my crank pulley and balancer.
2. With the old balancer, my base timing read about 14* BTC. With the new balancer on, it read about 11* Needless to say, I bumped it back up to 14*
3. The front main seal was exposed, and could should have been replaced while I was in there.
4. Changing the balancer has had little effect on the cars running--maybe a slight reduction in the mild vibes I was having before.
Anyway, hopefully this will help someone in the future.
So after I pulled the fan, shroud, and crank pulley, I attempted to break loose the balancer bolt by hammering the handle of my ratchet. I did this for a few minutes, but was only able to turn the motor over. I was reluctant to use the starter-bump method, so I went through mine and a neighbors toolboxes, and dug out an assortment of breaker bars, forked prybars, giant wrenches and C-clamps--none of which were effective at breaking down the morale of that bolt.
Then, I rotated the task in my mind so that I could look at it from a different vantage point, and it came to me. This is what finally worked: I took a mammoth set of vice-grips and clamped them onto one of the bolt flanges/fins on the old balancer. Then I stacked plywood under the handle of the vice-grips so that they couldn't rotate. Then I took an old needle-style torque wrench (useless) that I had in the garage, and layed into the bolt with medium force. The poor bolt screeched as it broke loose, as if to say, "you may have won, but my scream will echo in your mind forever, and haunt your dreams." Then I broke out the balancer puller, and the process accelerated from there.
Observations:
1. About 2 cups of what looked like potting soil was caked into my crank pulley and balancer.
2. With the old balancer, my base timing read about 14* BTC. With the new balancer on, it read about 11* Needless to say, I bumped it back up to 14*
3. The front main seal was exposed, and could should have been replaced while I was in there.
4. Changing the balancer has had little effect on the cars running--maybe a slight reduction in the mild vibes I was having before.
Anyway, hopefully this will help someone in the future.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
uberstang1
Classic Mustangs (Tech)
6
09-20-2015 06:42 PM
tj@steeda
Steeda Autosports
0
09-16-2015 07:53 PM