Harmonic Balancer

I just did my timing belt and tightening up the harmonic balancer with the idea of putting a socket wrench on the valve pulley to stop the turning while I’m trying to put the 130lbs. needed for the harmonic balancer, unfortunately the belt jump off the teeth of the belt and mess up with the timing. To make the story short I’m stock on taking off the harmonic balancer 22mm bolt cause every time I’m doing it the belt jump on. Is there another way to do it without a special tools, taking it off was easy but men I’m out of idea on how to tighten it up. Any help please

If the harmonic balancer isn't "tight" then it's the rubber that has worn out and you have to replace it. There's no way to tension it as far as I know.

 

 

Now if the belt jumped it looks like time to replace the cam belt and pulleys.

 

 

There are replacement pulleys for the harmonic balancer that are in one piece without the rubber that breaks down over time. At least for some engine models.

If the harmonic balancer isn't "tight" then it's the rubber that has worn out and you have to replace it. There's no way to tension it as far as I know.

 

 

Now if the belt jumped it looks like time to replace the cam belt and pulleys.

 

 

There are replacement pulleys for the harmonic balancer that are in one piece without the rubber that breaks down over time. At least for some engine models.

I might be wrong, all of the pulleys and bearings are new, with the tensioner as well so there’s no way for the belt to skip right. Or maybe it’s just me thinking of it was turning cause I was using the torque wrench at that time it sounds weird cause I’m not feeling the tik tak sound.

I might be wrong, all of the pulleys and bearings are new, with the tensioner as well so there’s no way for the belt to skip right. Or maybe it’s just me thinking of it was turning cause I was using the torque wrench at that time it sounds weird cause I’m not feeling the tik tak sound.

 

 

The timing belt may skip if you put too much strain on it by using one of the cam sprockets as a lock when pulling on the crank or the other way around or pull the cam belt "backwards" causing the tensioner to be compressed.

If you're really set on not buying the awesome Company 23 crank pulley wrench, then stick a big screwdriver through the bell housing inspection hole and jam it against the flywheel/flexplate teeth to hold the crankshaft in place. I believe you'll need to remove the intercooler to do this.

Have I mentioned you should get the Company 23 crank pulley wrench?

Thinking about putting that in my sig to save typing.

If I had a dollar for every dude moaning about how hard this job is cause they didn't want to spend $50 on the right tool...

I used a chain wrench with a slit rubber hose to protect and hold the balancer while I used a big torque wrench to tighten to 130lb or so needed for that bolt. Took a little bit of muscle but it worked great.

I used a chain wrench with a slit rubber hose to protect and hold the balancer while I used a big torque wrench to tighten to 130lb or so needed for that bolt. Took a little bit of muscle but it worked great.

 

I did that the first time I did the job, numerous years ago. It was a huge pain, but more significantly, I strongly suspect those 130lb-ft on the outer half of the pulley were a major contributing factor to the shortly ensuing failure of that pulley.

The icing on that cake, of course, is that the chain wrench cost about as much as... wait for it... yes, the Company 23 crank pulley wrench!

I can see that :-)

 

I was removing the stock pulley for a fluidamper pulley and I already had the chain wrench. The Company 23 pulley wrench is on my list for when it's time for the second timing belt.

Personally, I use the Company 23 pulley wrench.....just sayin'

To make the story short I ordered the right tools, are the valve pulleys can be tightened with it as well? Cause I just loosened one of them.

You broke loose the bolt on a cam sprocket? Holy sh!t, that's the toughest bolt on the car.

The tightening technique is actually similar to how you loosened it. Use the old timing belt fastened around the crank sprocket with a pair of vise grips. There are some demos on YouTube.

You broke loose the bolt on a cam sprocket? Holy sh!t, that's the toughest bolt on the car.

The tightening technique is actually similar to how you loosened it. Use the old timing belt fastened around the crank sprocket with a pair of vise grips. There are some demos on YouTube.

 

Alright, that’s how strong I am LOL! Since I’m tightening the harmonic balancer and use that to hold it, there’s a couple of clicks before I get it loose.

if you have access to some power tools (and even better a welder), you can actually make the balancer holding tool:

 

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/crank-pulley-tools-oem-company23-ps-pump-250619.html?t=250619

if you have access to some power tools (and even better a welder), you can actually make the balancer holding tool:

 

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/crank-pulley-tools-oem-company23-ps-pump-250619.html?t=250619

 

Did it work? Looks like the 130lbs. torque will break the flat ruler bar

Ya it worked, the bar is actually 3 feet long x 1.25 inch by a 1/4 inch out of mild steel. The back plate is made from 3 electrical box covers stacked with grade 5 or grade 8 bolts with the heads cutoff. It is kinda overbuilt but works.

 

I want to make another one with a welder to make it have better clearance.

 

i have used it for 2 timing belts and a flywheel replacement to hold the engine while loosening and torquing the torx plus bolts.

I already got the tools before you posted the idea, I have a welder friend but his too busy doing his tasks so I got the tools, men easy pissy with doing the 130lbs. torque.