Harmonic Balancer Removal?

[AlHewitt]

Confessions of Stupidity.

Like many of you I park my LT4 in storage during the winter. Last November I changed the antifreeze and not knowing the difference I installed Preston silicon base (the green stuff). The car sat un-driven until a month ago. I started it and noticed the green drips on the under side of the hood above where the serpentine belt runs. I think this is the thanks I got for being nice and changing the antifreeze! At any rate I monitor this site and from previous postings I knew to look at the water pump as the culprit. When visiting the Chev dealer he informed me about the green vs brown antifreeze and suggested that I drain and flush my system. He also concurs with this site that the Opti Spark is or will likely go TU soon from water contamination. I bit the bullet and bought a new pump, a flush kit and two gallons of the Dextron (orangish) stuff, a new Opti spark system, plugs and plug wires, about $800 and some change. The pump is off and I've cleaned the block where the old pump was removed, no small undertaking! I'm down to the removal of the harmonic balancer as this is necessary to install the Opti spark. The balancer has four bolts and they are removed. There is about 3/4" from the front of the balancer to the power steering cylinder and this is not a lot of clearance. If a puller can in fact be installed on the front of the balancer, is this 3/4" clearance enough to remove it? The balancer appears that it may be in two pieces, that is the pulley on the front and the actual balance to the rear. Or it may be one piece and come off as a complete unit.

Has some one done this before? I have the Opti spark installations instructions and it simply mentions remove the harmonic balance. I also have read a posting about doing this and a special puller was mentioned, where can I get this animal? Lastly I now have invested in several manuals to include the two red books from Chevrolet. I don't have them in hand yet, just spent my money. Any insights on this wonderful event? So, how does one remove the harmonic balancer?

Thanks

Al

 

[So Bay Vetter]

Al-
At the bottom of page 6-64 in Book 2 of your soon-to-be acquired Red service manuals it's called "crankshaft balancer and hub replacement". It calls for special tool "J 39046 crankshaft balancer hub remover and installer" I guess you can order it at the Chevy parts counter.

It also says you have to remove the power steering cooler as well as raise the front of the engine (Bummer!). Hope that helps. My front brake calipers aren't even in the book! hope you have better luck-

 

[redlt4]

Here is a pic I copied from another forum.

 

[Vettelt193]

it should be 2 parts; the pulley and balancer are separate... all you should need to take off is the pulley. it just slides right off for some, but in my experience, they get rusted in place really easily. Good luck finding a pulley puller like that, i tried all over town and had no luck

 

[AlHewitt]

Vettelt193,
I hope you are correct and the balancer and pulley are two pieces. The picture from redlt4 shows the puller pulling on the pulley and the balancer appears to be coming with it. I attempted to separate the pulley from the balancer by gently inserting a wedge between the two. The rubber shock absorbing inner part was flexing but no separation occurred. Lastly So Bay Vetter's post suggest the engine needs to be raised however I may try the puller through the frame/power steering cylinder. Thanks to all that have responded, I have found that most things in life are easy to do if you know how to do it; raising children may be the exception.
Al

 

[Vettelt193]

Vettelt193,
I hope you are correct and the balancer and pulley are two pieces. The picture from redlt4 shows the puller pulling on the pulley and the balancer appears to be coming with it. I attempted to separate the pulley from the balancer by gently inserting a wedge between the two. The rubber shock absorbing inner part was flexing but no separation occurred. Lastly So Bay Vetter's post suggest the engine needs to be raised however I may try the puller through the frame/power steering cylinder. Thanks to all that have responded, I have found that most things in life are easy to do if you know how to do it; raising children may be the exception.
Al

Well, this is from personal experience with my '93 LT1. I have not yet had the pleasure of replacing the opti in my '96... so, assuming they didn't change the part, they are the same.

From memory, there are 3 bolts that hold the pulley onto the balancer, and one bolt that holds the both to the crank... basically, you leave the big bolt on tight and just take off the 3 smaller ones

 

[PLRX]

To remove the balancer from the hub, 15mm, remove three bolts, use a 2x4 a hammer and a lot of patience. Tap it out...left....right....left....right....good luck

 

[wx briefer]

Remove the three outer ring bolts. Get under the car and hammer with a long piece of wood or brass rod over the crossmember and onto the outer ring of the balancer. It will come off. Be careful, be steady and only hit hard enough to realize movement. Also, make sure you tap equally around the circumferance.....atleast as much as possible.

 

[AlHewitt]

Again thanks for all of the advice.
As it turns out the there are several methods to remove the balancer. I used the latest suggestion, got under the car and tapped it off with a long bar. I found rotating the engine in one half segments improved the removal and finally the beast separated. Interestingly I could not remove it from the car as it still lacked clearance from the front hub. I could however rotate the engine so as to remove the Opti-Spark system. To remove the balancer from the car the Chev service Manual talks about raising the engine! To ease the rotating of the engine I removed (and replaced) the spark plugs. If you have yet to do this little chore what a delight it is! Whether it is water pump, balancer or spark plugs, this isn't the same engine I use to own as in the mid 60's.

I now have several manuals with lots of pictures and explanations on how this thing comes apart and goes back together. This will help me decide how serious I want to get next time I try to do it my self.

Al