Hi guys,

I replaced my old harmonic balancer because i noticed there was a slight wobble at idle. However, after properly torquing down my new harmonic balancer, i notice that the wobble is still there! When i apply any throttle to the engine, the wobble goes away.

I never removed the hub -- when i removed the harmonic balancer before I used a 3 claw puller. Is this indicative that the new harmonic balancer is messed up some how? or is a little wobble OK? I can't get a definitive answer.

any help would be great! i can always exchange the new harmonic balancer so getting a new one isn't a challenge.

Thanks!

 

Need basic info - year, engine

 

1993 Camaro LT1, 93k miles, new dampener AIT Brand. (not to be confused with the fancy ATI balancers).

 

Shouldn't wobble under any circumstanges. The AIT fits on the stock hub? You did align it correctly on the 3 unequally spaced arms, right?

I had never seen or heard of AIT.... is it comprised of an inner and out ring, joined by a hard rubber ring, like the stocker? Wobble generally means the rubber ring is damaged.

Why do you resist adding a signature? Why make people ask you questions before they can help you answer your questions? Really can't understand.

 

I forgot that i didnt have a signature for this forum actually :-( I'll make one after i finish this post...

the AIT fits right on the stock hub, with no problems. The dampener only fits on one way, so i bolted it up to the torque rating as specified on shbox's site. It is a 2 piece design -- inner ring which bolts to the hub, rubber sandwiched between the outerring, which the serpentine belt rides on.

it's not throwing any belts, and the other pulleys are smooth as can be. I just can notice the bit of wobble at idle, and when i give it any throttle, it stops (although it might just appear that way to the naked eye.)

I'll try swapping the dampener with another from autozone and see if it goes away... i just don't know what else it could be.

 

The new balancer continued to wobble. I checked the face of the hub itself to see if it was bent somehow (with a dial gauge) and it was OK.

I bought a new Dorman balancer from Pepboys, but it was obviously not true (just by looking at it) -- the inner ring was cockeyed from the outer ring, and some of the rubber that sandwiches the two parts together was squeezed out in an odd way.

That just leaves my old 96' Impala SS balancer (that i know is good) to try out. Is it OK to swap this on the camaro? The Impala harmonic balancer has the same part number.

If it continues to wobble after this, what is my next course of action? Is a slight amount of wobble the way it's supposed to be? Does anyone have a video of their balancer in action, so I can compare the two?

Thanks!

 

could be in ur rotating assemlby, like the cam, or worn cam bearings causing it to sway or wobble while rotating.

 

You mean the crank bearings? Because the cam is what the Water pump is driven off of...

 

lol yes, thats what i meant....

 

good god if it was his rotating assembly because of bad bearings he wouldn't be here asking why his HB appeared to be wobbling, he'd have much larger problems.

So you checked your hub with a dial indicator?? and it was ok? Did you get a measurement with the dial indicator with the HB attached to the hub? How many thousands is it out at the outer rim of the HB? you sure your eyes aren't playing tricks on you?

Whats "OK" in your mind? were the mounting pads on the hub all within a thousandth or two? I'm going to guess and say the hub was tweeked at some point in time when it was removed with a puller. It might only be slightly tweeked and appear to be ok, but as soon as you throw the balancer on there it magnifies the problem

 

I've personally never removed the hub, but it's possible that someone else did -- or perhaps I damaged it when I removed the HB -- although i don't think that's really possible either because the 3 claw puller only hooks onto the HB, and pushes against the hub bolt.

I didn't measure the HB with the dial indicator yet, just the face of the hub (which all was even...) leading me to believe that it's still the HB, and I've just had a bad new one.

My replacement HB has arrived so tonight I'll put it on and see...