Harmonic Balancer

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Harmonic balancers are designed to prolong the engine life by reducing wear on the main bearings and main journals and preventing crankshaft failure. The harmonic balancer or the vibration damper is a piece of equipment connected to the crankshaft which job is to lessen the harmonic vibration. Each time a cylinder fires, the connecting rod pounds the crankshaft journal as the force turns the crankshaft, causing energy to be dispersed through the engine. The front of the crankshaft takes the brunt of this power, so it often moves before the back of the crankshaft. This results to a twisting motion and after that, when the power is removed from the front, the halfway twisted shaft unwinds and snaps back in the opposite direction. Even if this “unwinding process” is somewhat diminutive, it causes harmonic vibration.

The harmonic balancer is made up of three parts. The inner part is bolted to the crankshaft. The center part is a rubber ring which dampens crankshaft vibrations, and the outer part with the timing marks and pulley cuts for the belts. When the power from the cylinder hits the front of the crankshaft, it tries to twist the heavy part of the damper, but it ends up twisting the rubber or discs that connects the two parts of the damper. The front of the crank can not speed up as much with the damper connected; the force is utilized to twirl the rubber and speed up the damper wheel, keeping the crankshaft operation in control.

When the harmonic balancer fails, the timing marks drift. What causes the harmonic balancer to work inefficiently? Age is the number one factor why your harmonic balancer started to work inefficiently. Another is the deterioration of its parts – the rubber will dry out and crack and will separate from the metal sections, leading to a condition where the outer grooved ring will spin separately from the hub. Once this happens, it will have to be replaced – for obvious reasons.

Nevertheless removing the harmonic balancer requires a special “puller” toll that comes as part of a harmonic balancer set. But if it is not a job you want to do yourself, you can have someone else do it for you; it will cost you a couple of hundred bucks, though. Therefore, it is always a good idea that one inspects the harmonic balancer for signs of deterioration to avoid such things to happen.

Featured Models

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