Rubber donut on diffs

[*RR*]

What are those big rubber donut things bolted to the diffs? I removed them when I removed my sway bars to see if they made any difference.. They don't seem to.

...so what are they for?

[dullbird]

I think you maybe talking about the Harmonic balancers although I thought mine was metal??? felt and weighed like it was.

[*RR*]

I think you maybe talking about the Harmonic balancers although I thought mine was metal??? felt and weighed like it was.

yeah, it looks like a harmonic balancer of some kind. It's metal, but it has a soft rubber coating...

So, I'm safe to remove them? The diffs aren't going to explode or something?

[RR P38]

Its a "mass damper" It removes vibration, think from memory it has more of an effect when decelerating.

[dullbird]

I dont thinkyou would notice it gone I certainly didnt on both of mine

[Spel1]

Harmonic balancer. They are there to balance vibrations etc in original equipment, wheels, tyre sizes etc - once you change even one of those I can't see it working positively. Mine also have gone to the recyclers with no noticed loss. Also not even an option to keep them on with QT style diff protectors.

[Scouse]

If you remove them (and have a V8), their mounts are good for spare engine mounts - they're the same part.