Thread: Is it worth fitting a second hand balancer?

Looks like the harmonic balancer on my D2a has is on the way out, these things look Exxy!

Found a second hand one at a reasonable price, just wondering if its worth it, or should I just swallow the cost and buy a new one.

Originally Posted by bgkdavis

.... but I think I can use a spring balance and some applied mechanics to make do.

Yeah, probably.. dunno never thought to try.
We borrowed a 3/4" torque wrench from a mechanic mate of my brothers(my brothers TD5), and did it on a Saturday arvo. Of course we didnt' have a 3/4" drive socket(I think 24mm or so) so we were stuck.
A local cheapie hardware place had a nominal 3/4" socket set for about $30(cheap Chinese made) .. and at least got us out of trouble.

Only problem is there's minimal space between rad and balancer bolt, and we didn't want to remove the rad. If it came to it, and we couldn't get the 3/4 socket, we'd have removed it and used a 3/4 - 1/2" drive adapter.

You will need a way to lock the crank/balancer when you go to undo/redo it tho .. 400+Nm can't be done without holding it tight.
We drilled and ground a piece of flat bar I had(used to hold my 300tdi balancer when I did the timing belt).

I remember there were 3 bolts on the balancer for the TD5 that we undid 2 of and had the flat bar wedged on the chassis, underneath, as we struggled to pull the torque wrench to whatever the figure was.. I think something like 450Nm.
All I remember was very hard, so a very long breaker bar or extension of some type and over 400Nm.

Only thing I remember about the balancer gob was that it'll be much easier to remove the rad to give you the room to move about and get hands in there and stuff.
I don't remember the fan bearing needing the extra room, but obviously you'd do the two jobs in one go.

Other tips(from memory):

1/. plan on a new fan hub too(where the fan bolts with the 4 bolts) chances are that one of those threads will break and you won't be able to tighten one of those fan bolts.
Hub has to come off to replace the bearing anyhow.

Don't bother trying to locate an aftermarket bearing. Brother spent a week searching only find that a bearing shop will sell it at the same price as your local friendly Roverlord like parts seller!
(you just can't tell some people what's best for them!! )

2/. if you pull the bearing out and find it's loose(as opposed to worn) .. I used silicon to hold it in place but after the fact I was alerted to the old method of centre punching the inside face of the bearing housing to score it so that the bearing fit back in nice and tight.
I was telling my ol man the story and he told me the same thing .. on some old machinery he used to repair the trick was to nick the inside face of the bearing housing with a centre punch and it fits back nicely.
In saying that tho.. the silicon has held up nicely for the last few thousand klms he's done.

While you got everything stripped so much .. I'd be inclined to replace the serpentine tensioner too(unless you already have). My brothers was 'tight' but also didn't return back nicely either. So it felt like it was OK, but wasn't.
The new tensioner springs back instantly, and while his had good tension(ie. not loose) it sprang back like it was hydraulic .. a slow hydraulic like return movement rather than a snap back to tension.

3/. having learned my lesson with my 300 tdi, I would never again fit a harmonic balancer without fitting a new front main seal either. Although we didn't replace my brothers TD5, and it hasn't leaked I still prefer to do the seal whether it leaks or not.
My 300 Tdi didn't leak but in doing my timing belt(ie. harmonic has to come off) after I'd done the belt it did start to leak. Lesson learned.

So parts you(may) need:
Fan bearing and hub.
Harmonic balancer, crank bolt, front main seal.
Serpentine tensioner(if you haven't already replaced it).