adegrego

Hey all,

I just installed a new harmonic balancer on my 1995 F-150 2WD 5.8 since the old one had some of the rubber popping out a little. However, there's still a slight wobble when idle and when I accelerate to 2000 RPM the wobble increases. Is it easy to botch the installation? I did use a harmonic balancer installer and then tightened it to 85 lb torque. I might just have a mechanic inspect it to be sure.

Steve83

Not unless you beat on the balancer ring or the pulley. Which one is wobbling? They're separate.

Or are you talking about a VIBRATION? Do you still have the old balancer? Rubber coming out alone is NOT a reason to change it.

seschenburg

As a warning I will tell you that you need to figure out the problem. A harmonic balancer that is too far out will cause anything from unrelenting vibrations, fan belt problems, your main bearings wearing out early, and even a fractured crankshaft. You may have no warning at what point in the danger zone you are at before the maximum level is reached.

My experience...Previous mechanic/owner didn't properly tighten the HB bolt, porobably after a timing chain replacement. Found this out about 6 months into ownership on the interstate when my HB bolt worked itself loose allowing the HB to also come loose. Driving fine, heard a fwap-fwap noise, crankshaft broken right behind #2 journal bearing. Luckily, I wasn't far from home.

adegrego

Hey @Steve83 - the reason I changed it was I reinstalled the old one and when I ran the car, there was a very large wobble in the harmonic balancer. It may have been a bad install but then I reinstalled the new one and there was just that slight wobble (or so I thought). I took it to my mechanic and he said that there isn't any wobble and the installation was clean... I think I was just going crazy. Anyway, I've been driving around and the truck runs really smooth now.

@seschenburg thankfully I installed it and put the right torque specs on the HB Bolt