The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Installing the harmonic balancer

When doing this, the shop manual says to go until it buts up against the timing gear. How do I know it is against the gear? I don't want to go too far and move the gear. That will mess up the clearances and wear out the gear.

what kind of truck.............timing gear?

do you have a bolt in it or press on type...
I always thought they would stop and not go any farther
on my 52 I just incerted the key and tapped it till it stopped

If a bolt on "DO NOT HAMMER IT ON" You will F up the crank.

Got to Autozone and rent an Installer/Puller. They charge for the cost of one (Mine was $27+change and I kept it). real easy to use

it is a 1962 235. I think it is a press on type. There are no threads in the crank shaft, so the installer from advanced auto (I already went and looked at it) won't work. I borrowed a tool from the shop I go to so I can tap it on.

Use a straight edge to line up the balancer with your water pump pully.

Davidn,

I had the same question about a month ago.

Below is a link and some info about installing and removing harmonic balancer.



https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=474149&fpart=1

Tim

Heat the balancer up to about 200 degree or so, then get some freon type spray duster or freeze spray in a can and get the crank really cold. Set it out side if its cold. Then in one quick step, shove it on and have a hammer ready to finish it off. Mine went about 90% of the way on the first time and it was in the truck. Had it been out on a stand I think I could have made it all the way on. Joe

I didn't have any problems with it going on. I wasn't even worried about the crankshaft. It went on with forceful tapping with a normal hammer. I didn't have to pound it on with a giant hammer. I was just worried about going too far and pushing the timing gear back. Tiny's advice - I put the old water pump and pulley on (the new one isn't in the mail yet) and aligned it to that. I initially went a hair too far and had to back out a little. Does the balancer even touch the timing gear? If not I had nothing to worry about.

All the engines I have ever built require to balancer to hold the timing gear up tight to the crank. I would think even a little movement on the timing gear would be bad. If the pulleys don't line up, then really check the balancer to see that the outer ring hasn't slipped. Backing it off would worry me! Joe

I think I found part of my problem with aligning it to the fan pulley. I had the spacer between the pump and pulley instead of between the pulley and fan. Putting things together in the correct order makes a difference.

When I got my engine back from the shop that rebuilt it for me the harmonic balancer was in a box of all the old parts. The timing cover was on and it was all painted 53 chevy engine blue. I was reading a lot of threads and saw the recomemded way to do it was to drill the crank out and draw it down with some greased washers and a nut. I also read another recomendation to heat it to 200 degrees in the oven and hammer it on. I chose to hammer it. I heated the oven to 200, left it in there about an hour. Took some emery cloth and cleaned the end of the crank, used white lithium grease to "wet" the crank seal so it wasn't pinched or burnt (although 200 degrees is nothing for that engine and I am sure it would have been fine). I used some leather gloves and a 4 pound slege hammer. I wiggled it back and forth to get the key way centered and pushed it on by hand about half way before it stopped, It made me feel good it stopped because for an instant I thought it was going to easy. I gave it a few hits with the hammer and looked for the previous wear line (can't really say it was a groove because it wasn't) where the seal had ridden before. The harmonic balancer stopped right where the line was. I felt good about it and left it there. I can always pull it back off with a steering wheel puller I have if need be for it not running true or it having a misaligned fan belt, but for now the report is the heating suggestion seemed to work. So thanks to Shop Shark. Joe H. I actually felt better about that then drilling the end of the crank. Slow but sure she is going back together and one bad day in the garage working on the truck is better than a good day at work.

Glad to hear it went together all right. Joe

You don't want to "back it off a little" to make the pulleys line up. That is an interference fit and backing it off a little could cause a disaster.

Also, in the absence of another marker you can tell when you're on far enough by using a straight edge to align with the water pump pulley.