<VV> Re: [FC] [VV] Harmonic balancers....

[BobHelt at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/29/2007 7:49:57 PM US Mountain Standard Time,  
noahsarkinc at earthlink.net writes:

If it  isn't broke, then why mess with it.  The balancers were neccessary 
when  GM went to the larger displacement engines to smooth out vibrations.  If  
you don't have a problem, why spend the money?  Paul in  CT



Paul,
With all respect, I must disagree with you here. The Harmonic  Dampers are 
there to dampen the torsional vibrations caused by the power  stroke impulses 
twisting the  crankshaft and causing oscillations of  the crank. They are really 
not balancers but are dampers. These dampers  were necessary on all 164 CID 
engines. The problem is that running without a HD  causes minute cracks to 
develop in the crank, and then grow each time undamped  oscillations occur. These 
cracks expand and grow for each occurance of the  undamped oscillations, until 
one day the crankshaft just breaks in two.  By  then it's too late to fix the 
problem. So while you might think there is no  problem prior to a crank 
breaking, you will know for sure you have a problem  after it does. My 
recommendation is to always run a HD on a 164 CID  engine....ALWAYS.
Regards,
Bob Helt



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