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wiggly harmonic balancer

OldGrandpaTune

OldGrandpaTune

The Road Warrior
Joined
May 7, 2013
Location
Rural Ohio
B230FT 1987 765.

My harmonic balancer came loose with 165xxx miles on the motor. I read a little and read about a key, index feature and no key. Deduced that locktite and an impact tighten are bad. Got it torqued to 200 with a long socket extender.

Now the harmonic balancer wiggles, and I am worried I missed a locating feature that throws off the pulley. Smooth as silk except for that.

Changed all the belts while in there. I have the balancer driving the power steering directly, instead of off the AC. That seems improbable that would matter.
 
Is the rubber part between the pulleys and the center section of the balancer in good shape? The rubber can deteriorate and then it wobbles and even will slip..
 
Buy the crank holding tool guys - will save you a lot of grief over the long haul - even if you only use it every now and then

It is the only way that I know of PROPERLY AND SAFELY torque your red block crank bolt and get a true 60 degrees on it
 
Last edited:
OldGrandpaTune said:
B230FT 1987 765.

My harmonic balancer came loose with 165xxx miles on the motor. I read a little and read about a key, index feature and no key. Deduced that locktite and an impact tighten are bad. Got it torqued to 200 with a long socket extender.

Now the harmonic balancer wiggles, and I am worried I missed a locating feature that throws off the pulley. Smooth as silk except for that.

Changed all the belts while in there. I have the balancer driving the power steering directly, instead of off the AC. That seems improbable that would matter.
Click to expand...

What EXACTLY is wobbling? Like a bent axle or clockwise counter clockwise?

If you missed the index slot and tit all together, you'd know it
 
Jimmy E. James said:
Buy the crank holding tool guys - will save you a lot of grief over the long haul - even if you only use it every now and then

It is the only way that I know of PROPERLY AND SAFELY torque your red block crank bolt and get a true 60 degrees on it
Click to expand...


Got that and it works wonders.

Wobbly is maybe 15 degrees off a perfect 0 degree center as the pulley rotates. That is a lot to me. Had a wheel do that because a bolt was put in the locating stud hole.
 
gsellstr said:
If you don't have the pulley seated on the nub on the gear, it can wobble pretty good, seen that a few times and had to fix it.
Click to expand...

That is what I needed to hear. I'll redo it tomorrow. Got the tightening tool, and also ground down a deep impact socket to allow tightening with the fan still on. This will go quickly.

Never thought to look for the nub on the gear itself.
 
I took it back apart and inspected everything. There is no nub.

There is a slot in the harmonic balancer and another slot in the gear that may have contained a key at one time. There is no other feature on the gear. I did see a photo of later timing gears that did have a little locating tab on it though. Might order a new one just to change next time around.

My Volvo only takes my dog to Lowes on Sunday. Not a show stopper.
 
GOTTA have the nub on the gear in order to line up the balancer. There should be a nub on the face and a keyway on the ID of the gear. If the balancer bolt came loose, usually that nub shears off since it's only for locating purposes before you tighten the balancer bolt. It's not an early/late thing, it's a B230 thing in general. If the keyway is still there to engage into the slot in the crank, you should be fine for now running that gear, as long as you don't need to anything with ignition timing, otherwise I'd grab a new one and swap it out.
 
a new gear from ipd is 130 having no Volvo's in the yard here I fixed my gear with j.b. weld and a file however i now have several spare gears. if you need one pm me. all they needed for is setting ignition timing. t.d.c. can still be found with a screw driver. i would wait till you do the timing belt then replace the gear
 
lummert said:
There are instructions somewhere for drilling the gear and pulley for a dowel pin.
Click to expand...

That sounds like the right solution. I am a manufacturing guy and we end up pinning everything. Perfect use for my new tabletop drillpress next time.

After reassembly with no pin or key, everything is smooth as silk. With my 30 miles weekly, this should last a while.

Thanks for the input gentleman, and ladies if such a unicorn exists on TB.
 
OldGrandpaTune said:
That sounds like the right solution. I am a manufacturing guy and we end up pinning everything. Perfect use for my new tabletop drillpress next time.

After reassembly with no pin or key, everything is smooth as silk. With my 30 miles weekly, this should last a while.

Thanks for the input gentleman, and ladies if such a unicorn exists on TB.
Click to expand...

I don't understand
The balancer wobbled, 15 degrees or so
You took it apart, inspected everything, found no locator titty(s) and put it all back together

And now, no wobble?

Something's going on - doesn't add up

On my B230FT the crank gear has a tit, facing into the inner hole of the gear that mates up with the slot in the crank stub, like a sort of captive half moon key, but instead of a key, it's a fat tit on the gear

Then there's a square bump (small tit) on the face of the crank gear to mate up with the groove in the balancer

These are both tits for the purposes of getting the proper index, not very strong mechanically like a traditional slot and half moon key (ones that would would be maybe 3/4 to an inch, like on an older V-8 American engine)

They are both just cast tits and square - the one on the inner diameter of the crank gear being the larger of the two

BOTH are fragile

I've seen these tits snapped off from guys using a breaker bar and the starter to loosen the crank bolt
 
Jimmy E. James said:
Buy the crank holding tool guys - will save you a lot of grief over the long haul - even if you only use it every now and then

It is the only way that I know of PROPERLY AND SAFELY torque your red block crank bolt and get a true 60 degrees on it
Click to expand...

Do people actually do that? I just grab a 1/2" breaker bar and then an additional 2 foot pipe on that. No issues since.

I learned my lesson with one crank pulley already when not tightened properly:ninja:
 
PromiseRing said:
Do people actually do that?
Click to expand...

Do "people" actually do what? Use the right tool(s)?

Nothing wrong with a pull handle and a piece of pipe - about the only way I know of to get the final 60 degrees (my post was about holding the crank stationary, for disassembly and assembly, not actually tightening the bolt)

The crank tool is a cheap (and wise) investment - makes those big time emergency road side belt installs a hell of a lot easier too
 
Jimmy E. James said:
Do "people" actually do what? Use the right tool(s)?

Nothing wrong with a pull handle and a piece of pipe - about the only way I know of to get the final 60 degrees (my post was about holding the crank stationary, for disassembly and assembly, not actually tightening the bolt)

The crank tool is a cheap (and wise) investment - makes those big time emergency road side belt installs a hell of a lot easier too
Click to expand...

Yeah I know. I bought the crank tool used a long time ago from a local guy. Use it every time I do the t belt.

I was wondering if people properly torqued the crank bolt and then added the additional degrees like you're supposed to. I recall doing that on my 1st or 2nd timing belt and then having the bolt come loose. My guess was an inaccurate torque wrench.

Now I just MAKE SURE the pulley is fully seated so I don't shear the keyway off (that's what happened when my pulley came loose and fell off), then I just tighten the living **** out of the crank bolt. Probably not 'ideal' but works every time.
 
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