My son calls me - frantic as all hell, and said that the balancer on his 96 Z28 came off in front of his girlfriends house.

Sure enough, the balancer was in his hands when I arrived. He was a little pissed to say the least.

I remember that when we put it on after we changed the seal, it went on real easy....now the $10,000.00 question.

The balancer should be more of a press-fit than just an easy slide-on??? Right?

I'm thinking the crank twisted inside the hub, and loosened the mounting bolt at the same time.

Is my thinking correct? I guess I need to get a new hub.

 

Yes, the damper (not a balancer) is a press fit and typically requires a length of grade 8 threaded rod to pull it on.

 

More than likely the outer "pulley" part of the damper came off and the inner part is still bolted on. A stock damper is 2 pieces that over the time the plastic or rubber that holds them together comes apart.

 

Nope!!! The whole thing came off. Believe me.

Just ordered a new hub.

 

OP, the hub is a "press" fit and should take some effort with the proper install tool to put on.

You can buy keyed hubs or have a machine shop cut one in...IMHO always a good idea