Thread: Ross Toughbond harmonic balancers TD5

The buying of anything labeled Britpart with anything rubber is something that seems to end in frustration.

I think that Turners in the UK seem to be the cheapest and best source at the moment.

I rang Ross's and they were not overly helpful to be honest maybe others have had better service than I got.
At the time they indicated that they couldn't repair them and they hadn't finished the design for the unit they advertise on the website.
I wonder if the said dealer south of Adelaide are selling second hand ones?

I spoke with Ross Performance 3 weeks ago.
They have experienced difficulties with the current TD5 unit and are in the process of a redesign. I was advise of a an early 2014 release if the new design proves durable.

Just got a response from John at Ross'
Thankfully his response is much better than my previous contact, as Strangy said they should release them in late Jan 2013

He sent me pics and they look very good

Thanks for the replies. I'll ring Ross tomorrow, may have to fit a secondhand unit to get me by till something better can be had. Unfortunately I have to remove the radiator to service the balancer due to the size of the tools involved. I wanted to fit the VNT thats just been delivered, not go back over old repairs this Christmas break...
Cheers for the replies, Jason.

You could try Rovacraft, I find the bloke there very helpful.
82a Welland Avenue
Welland S.A 5007
Phone: 8260 5100

I simply removed the floating section when it started to move around at idle.

The offending item came from Rovacraft, 10 months ago, I still have the reciept for $1015...I wonder what warranty Britpart has?
The failure is in the balancing element, the rubber disc which the multi-vee belt drive pulley flexes on. Pulley section is still well located on the internal bearing with no real slop here. Just no torsional dampning, the rubber disc is slipping at the hub. The rubber is the bit that cracks and allows the pulley spokes to rap on the fixed (bolted to crank) inner hub, making that unmistakable "marble rattle". Thats how previous balancers I replaced died.
The external ring (held by three bolts) floating section still ok but rubber has signs of cracking. Perhaps the rapping is what weakens the bolt area and leads to the catastrophic failures that you read about? Its cast iron I believe.

Ross Performance/Omega Engineering happy to take call and discuss. John told me they have 5 prototypes out there under trial. So far so good it seems, but they dont want any surprises when they hit the market. He also mentioned that "a harmonic vibration at 100kph" seems to have been much reduced. They are not a copy, rather a redesign using two internal elements and much improved materials. As above post, due end Jan 2014. Similar price to availabe standard units. Whos going to be first...


Regards, Jason

Originally Posted by bee utey

You could try Rovacraft, I find the bloke there very helpful.
82a Welland Avenue
Welland S.A 5007
Phone: 8260 5100

They are the Australian distributer of Britpart