Best balancer

[12lepler]

Hey I'm in need of a new harmonic balancer for my car. It's a 1986 GN. The engine has been rebuilt at one time in the past and I suspect that the bottom end has been balanced. It's got ARP hardware and you can see where it looks like some parts were machined to take weight off. The balancer doesn't look special. I'm pretty sure it has a stock balancer on it. So my question is, what's the best replacement crank balancer? I'll post a picture of the balancer later if anyone needs to see a pic of that

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[Nick Micale]

You only have 2 major choices, The BHJ steel harmonic balancer which is about $480 with the trigger wheel, and the TA steel balancer at ~$290 and includes a trigger wheel as well.

Both units are SFI rated.

The BHJ unit is available for the stock external balanced crank, or for the forged steel crank which uses a neutral balance piece.

The TA balancer is made for neutral/internal balance but a bolt-on weight which will allow for external balance as well.

Actually there is a little known 3rd choice for BHJ on a custom order basis, and that is an alum balancer which is ~$600.

 

[SCOOBY DOO]

I have my engines balanced and use stock balancers.

 

[we4Mateo]

I have my engines balanced and use stock balancers.

Doesn't the rubber deteriorate just sitting around?

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[12lepler]

Now I just wanted to make sure. This IS a stock balancer right?

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[bison]

Looks stock. There are a few types of damper/balancers that could be used as well as a few balancers. I run neutral dampers on my engines and all the balance is done in the counterweighting of the crank. If updating balance I rec a damper.

 

[SCOOBY DOO]

Doesn't the rubber deteriorate just sitting around?

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I grudge/bracket race my car most weekends...high 10's to low 11's. Stock junk works just fine...at least for me.

 

[m233roller]

Why do you want a new balancer? What's wrong with your stock one ?

 

[12lepler]

Why do you want a new balancer? What's wrong with your stock one ?

Well when I was showing my car off to a guy at work, he pointed out that my crank pulley was bouncing all over creation. If my balancer was balanced with the rest of the rotating assembly, what should I do? Can I get the replacement balancer balanced by itself or what?

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[Squid4life]

Was the balancer bolt tight? Were the bolts holding the crank pulley on tight? Is the stock balancer cracked along the keyway? Or is the stock crank pulley just bent? Remove the crank pulley and check it out, then remove the balancer/hub and check it out. You might not need anything.

 

[12lepler]

Was the balancer bolt tight? Were the bolts holding the crank pulley on tight? Is the stock balancer cracked along the keyway? Or is the stock crank pulley just bent? Remove the crank pulley and check it out, then remove the balancer/hub and check it out. You might not need anything.

That's gonna be the next thing I do. Believe me I want to make sure it's bad before shelling out 400 bucks

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[we4Mateo]

My stock balancer broke in the keyway and wobbled like that too.

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[Flyin Brian]

Doesn't the rubber deteriorate just sitting around?

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There is not any rubber in the stock balancer is there?? It is just metal. I had the TA one but it failed either from the bolt not being tight enough or loose clearance. I did not install it so I will never really know what happened. The BHJ is a press fit and I got the bolt very tight now. I think the BHJ is supposed to do a better job of cancelling out harmonic vibrations than the stock crank hub.

 

[Nick Micale]

[QUOTE="Flyin Brian, post: 3442702, member: 37091"...... I had the TA one but it failed either from the bolt not being tight enough or loose clearance. I did not install it so I will never really know what happened. The BHJ is a press fit .............[/QUOTE]

The TA balancer is steel, not cast iron like the stock one, and with all of those I have used it is a press fit like the BHJ. It will NOT just slide on the crankshaft, it must be pressed on.

If that was a new balancer you purchased from TA, it should have been returned if you thought it was defective? This is how product improvement happens.

As far as it doing "a better job" with the BHJ is true in some cases, but if we are doing a performance build, not a street build, and when the operating range will be over 5000 RPM, the BHJ damper unit is the choice especially to dampen the harmonics which could be passed on to the camshaft.

 

[Flyin Brian]

[QUOTE="Flyin Brian, post: 3442702, member: 37091"...... I had the TA one but it failed either from the bolt not being tight enough or loose clearance. I did not install it so I will never really know what happened. The BHJ is a press fit .............

The TA balancer is steel, not cast iron like the stock one, and with all of those I have used it is a press fit like the BHJ. It will NOT just slide on the crankshaft, it must be pressed on.

If that was a new balancer you purchased from TA, it should have been returned if you thought it was defective? This is how product improvement happens.

As far as it doing "a better job" with the BHJ is true in some cases, but if we are doing a performance build, not a street build, and when the operating range will be over 5000 RPM, the BHJ damper unit is the choice especially to dampen the harmonics which could be passed on to the camshaft.[/QUOTE]
It was a new TA balancer. It would slide on by hand just like the stock one does. We figured this was normal since that is the way that the stock one fit. It rattled around enough to damage the crank key but I can not confirm if the bolt was tight enough as I was not the one who tightened it originally. I did check it later when I was having false knock but I could not get it any tighter. I should have done more research/asked someone. Still learning Buicks. I do like the BHJ but it was not cheap.

 

[we4Mateo]

There is not any rubber in the stock balancer is there?? It is just metal. I had the TA one but it failed either from the bolt not being tight enough or loose clearance. I did not install it so I will never really know what happened. The BHJ is a press fit and I got the bolt very tight now. I think the BHJ is supposed to do a better job of cancelling out harmonic vibrations than the stock crank hub.

My bad. I thought the stock ones were dampeners with rubber inside. Even a stock one should fit tight though. When the key way cracks, then they slide right on and off!

 

[turbodave231]

Nick is right about the TA stock appearing balancer. Press fit not a slide on. I have bought 2 so far and both were a light press.


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