Quick question about LT1 Balancers, quickly.
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 4,305
From: North Vancouver, BC
Quick question about LT1 Balancers, quickly.
Ok I fergot to tighten mine up so it flew off on the HWY, I have another LT1 balancer here but I'm just wondering, is each LT1 balancer for that engine it comes off of or are they all interchangable? LMK Thanx.
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 870
From: Indianola, MS
I found out the other week that the 93-95 and 96-97 uses two different balancers but with the same part number. 93-95 uses a toe claw to remove and 96-97 uses a harmonic balancer pulley puler to remove. Werid huh?
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Joined: Nov 1998
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From: Hell was full so they sent me to NJ
The dampers have small holes around the outside, and according to some sources, these are used to fine tune the engine balance. Appears they put small weights in the holes. The weights are so small that its hard to believe they could balance much of anything, and appear to be more for balancing the damper itself.
A quote from the "Rebuilding the LT1" article:
The fact that the tolerance is as large as 90-degrees of rotation makes it seem relatively unimportant.
A quote from the "Rebuilding the LT1" article:
HUB AND BALANCER
The balancer is a two-piece assembly with a pulley that bolts onto the hub. Separating the two made it easier to install the Optispark distributor on the assembly line and out in the field. The holes in the hub are offset, so the balancer only fits on it one way, but there’s no keyway in the hub to index the hub on the crank. This shouldn’t be a problem unless the damper was drilled at the factory to "trim" the final engine assembly.
If it was drilled a lot to compensate for an engine that was out of balance, you could end up with a shaker, depending on how everything stacked up with the remanufactured engine compared to the original engine. If you encounter a balance problem on a remanufactured LT1, try rotating the balancer assembly on the crank 90° at a time to see if it eliminates the problem.
The balancer is a two-piece assembly with a pulley that bolts onto the hub. Separating the two made it easier to install the Optispark distributor on the assembly line and out in the field. The holes in the hub are offset, so the balancer only fits on it one way, but there’s no keyway in the hub to index the hub on the crank. This shouldn’t be a problem unless the damper was drilled at the factory to "trim" the final engine assembly.
If it was drilled a lot to compensate for an engine that was out of balance, you could end up with a shaker, depending on how everything stacked up with the remanufactured engine compared to the original engine. If you encounter a balance problem on a remanufactured LT1, try rotating the balancer assembly on the crank 90° at a time to see if it eliminates the problem.
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Joined: Aug 2000
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From: North Vancouver, BC
Thanx guys I fell asleep, but do you guys think I did any damage to the engine by driving like 15 mins without a balancer? I didn't know it fell off I thought the alternator fell off or something 
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Joined: Nov 1998
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From: Hell was full so they sent me to NJ
No.. you didn't do any damage by driving for 15 minutes.... there are people here who didn't realize that the "sandwich" type U/D pulleys require the damper to be reinstalled, and have driven forever without any damper at all - not a good idea, but they seemed to have survived. In general... it is a damper, not a balancer. It controls the cylcic "twist" in the crankshaft that results from the pattern of power pulses from the cylinders. It helps extend longevity of the crank. But 15 minutes isn't going to hurt anything.
I just noticed you run a Fluidampr..... are you telling me it was your $350 damper that went rolling down the highway???
I just noticed you run a Fluidampr..... are you telling me it was your $350 damper that went rolling down the highway???
Last edited by Injuneer; Aug 9, 2003 at 06:51 PM.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 4,305
From: North Vancouver, BC
No Thank God I didn't put that on yet 
Thanx for the info, I feel so much better now you don't understand you saved my day, my hair will not turn gray as soon I thought it would thanx to you
Thanx for the info, I feel so much better now you don't understand
you saved my day, my hair will not turn gray as soon I thought it would thanx to you
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