DodgeTalk Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Harmonic Balancer Sleeve and Seal Removed with pics

17K views 26 replies 4 participants last post by  landyacht318 
#1 · (Edited)
I am in the midst of replacing my water pump and entire cooling system. Since I am this far into it, I am replacing the timing chain too.

I just removed the harmonic balancer. I used a sleeve and seal the last time. That little thin ring that slides tightly over the end which goes through the timing cover.

It has ~ 20 k miles on it, and there is a slight ridge on it from the front seal on the timing cover.

I have a new sleeve and seal, the whole timing cover gasket set.

Should I remove the old sleeve and seal and install the new one? How can I remove it?

Should I just put the new sleeve over the old sleeve and seal, if even possible?

Should I just keep the one with the slight groove on it and rely on the new timing cover seal?

It was not leaking before.

The harmonic balancer looks to be in good condition I do not want to replace it. Cannot afford to to so right now really.

I hope to button this up by tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I would just use the new seal and leave the current sleeve. I guess you could use a dremel with cut off wheel to gently cut into the current one but be careful not to cut the base metal, and the install the new if you want to.
 
#3 ·
I would remove the old sleeve and install the new one along with a new seal. You cannot install the new one over the old one. The inside arc of the new sleeve is machined to match the arc of the crankshaft, not the arc of the old sleeve.

Since you plan on being buried in this van, do it right! :)
 
#4 ·
I did pay the extra for the timing cover gasket set with the sleeve and seal, so I'm just gonna remove it, somehow. The groove in the old one is so slight I could get away with it but knowing murphy, It would come back and give me a five fingered prostate exam.

My old water pump has 30 k miles on it. The bearing on it sounds pretty loud, and spins around 15 times when spun by hand. It's got 6 vanes on the impeller. No corrosion/ pitting. The new GMB will not spin once and is stiff in comparison with an 8 vaned impeller.

It appears there was 2 pin holes in the bypass hose which is only 2 years old. Right on the inside of the elbow. I got it at Napa. No broken bolts in the block as I feared. I did screw up the timing gasket the last time. It had fallen inside on one corner up top. It did not leak though.

The timing chain had some slack. I have not yet compared the slack to the new one. I could push it in about 1/4 inch on each side. The New Cloyes has bigger rollers on the chain than whatever brand was in there. Looks like my coolant was about 30 percent coolant, because I had no Idea how much the total capacity was, and it's been leaking, and I've just been filling it with distilled water.
 
#5 ·
It appears there was 2 pin holes in the bypass hose which is only 2 years old. Right on the inside of the elbow. I got it at Napa. No broken bolts in the block as I feared. I did screw up the timing gasket the last time. It had fallen inside on one corner up top. It did not leak though.
It's odd that there would be ANY holes in a 2 year-old hose. Was it straight after it was installed or was there even the slightest kink to it?

For the timing gasket, although there was no oil or AF leak, if air were allowed to pass through this gasket gap, it messes with the crankcase/PCV system vacuum. This could've affected the way the engine ran to some degree.
 
#6 ·
The new Gates bypass hose appears 3/8 inch shorter with less of a sharp bend. It was leaking from inside the elbow. I'm gonna make sure the new hose when installed does not take on any new bends. There was some coolant seepage around one or 2 bolts too, but it looks like it sealed itself. Hard to tell if it just collected there from the bypass hose or not.

The bypass hose is very close to where my timing gasket was not properly attached. There is a lot of crud in that area, but it does kinds look like there was air pressure escaping there, but cannot be sure. I'd think the pcv would be pulling in air through there if there was an air leak.
I did use RTV too, and had to scrape it off the block in that area.

I remember being very stressed when reassembling the front end 4 years ago. I was missing work, working outside, and sunny Southern California decided to add to my misery with rain and wind. When a new brass freeze plug fell down the y pipe.......
 
#10 · (Edited)
The sleeve took about a minute to remove with a small chisel and pair of plyers.

Nothing fought too bad today. Got the water pump installed and tightened. Only had to do one dry run. Taking my time. Gonna let the RTV go off fully before filling up the coolant. Had a closer look at the pulleys. They were filled with Baja's finest Dirt. Gonna clean them good and paint them.

Saw my blower motor was loose in the Hvac box. Hardware was ceased. Saw the previous owner replaced the motor, and did an extremely poor job splicing the wires.



Pretty easy to work on while the radiator is out.

Have a good weekend
 
#11 ·
The sleeve took about a minute to remove with a small chisel and pair of plyers.
Well now that was simple, seemed faster to remove than the post asking about it, lol.;)

Glad it went smooth today. Nice to see others who like checking out more than just what is currently being repaired. To many so called Techs only work on what is now broke and won't check to see what else needs, now or in the future, attention.
 
#15 ·
If somebody told me I had 8 hours to do the timing chain, I could do it, but it would be half assed. I've only done it with the radiator removed, and I can sit down in front of it, looking straight at it. Leaning over, and crawling under. No thanks
 
#16 ·
Well time wise where I could get to it was more like 11 hours, and I did lean over and cawled under it as well, lol.:WHT:
 
#17 ·
Perhaps I couldn't do it in eight. I wonder how much faster the actual timing chain swap is without the radiator. Wonder if it would be worth removing it just for that task. Hope I never have to find out. I'm up to about 14 hours taking my sweet old time.

I Noticed for the first time that I have what appears to be a valve on my heater hose. It's got a vacuum line running to it and an arrow. From one of Alloro's posts I did not think the Heater core was switched. Is it that way on Magnum's?
 
#18 ·
My heater valve is in the center of this pic behind the oil dipstick, does yours look similar? And yes it does have an arrow on it. Plus the vacuum line.
 
#19 ·
Looks like yours is a little spiffier than mine, with that vaccuum hose all protected like that.


Does this mean one of those heater hose adapters for a coolant temp sensor would not work unless the heat is on? Because then of course we can razz Alloro a bit.

My heater works great, but I've never flushed it, and I've seen more crud in my drained coolant than any other time. Is it as easy as it seems? Just unhook the hoses. Jam a hose in one line, then the other to back flush it. Or am I opening a can of worms?
 
#21 ·
#22 ·
Landyacht, yes you can remove it and put in a tube for the water temp sensor. Since your AC, IIRC, does not work then the shut off valve is not doing you any good. The only time it shuts off is when the AC is turned on MAX setting. Your coolant does flow all the time through the valve.

Yes flushing the heater core as you described does work and since it sets way higher than the engine I would not be surprised that you find some garbage come out of it when you back flush it even though you have not seen any come out the lower side of the engine.
 
#25 · (Edited)
Flushed 5 gallons back and forth through the heater core into a white bucket.

No chunks or debris, but it is a dark yellow color.

Didn't do much else today, cleaned up and rerouted some wiring and vacuum hoses. Derusted, rust converted and painted the Pulleys

Removed the blower motor, re spliced the connections, ect.

A moot point but "Or OFF MODES"
From my FSM:
 
#27 ·
The Van fired right up. Faster than it usually does when cold, but I had all 3 batteries hooked up. Usually I only start it on just the engine battery. I'm glad my landlord had a compressor and an Air gun. When I reinstalled the newly painted pulleys, they did not line up, and I had to hit it with the air rachet again to pull the harmonic balancer all the way in. I guess the only other way to do it would be to remove the starter and block the flywheel from turning.

As I said in the 'Temp gauge too low?" thread, The new one wire Temp sender returned the gauge to the normal range. Before it rose only a little above the first hatch mark. Now it rests horizontal. The mechanical VDO temp gauge my friend gave me will not work in the radiator's 3/8 bung. I'm not gonna worry about it. The OEM gauge, since it now has it's full range again is adequate.

The temp gauge was nearly horizontal before the thermostat opened. It took quite some time before the heater worked. I figure there was still a little air in the system, but after a while the vents in the dash read 140 degrees with my IR thermometer. When I cranked the fan to high, some leaves blew out the vents. Perhaps my improved wiring connections allowed more voltage to make it to the motor. Surprisingly the wiring is only 14 awg. I expected 10 awg on a device that pulls 16.5 + amps on High.

I poured in nearly 4 gallons of 50/50 antifreeze, So I guess there was still half a quart left in the block as the total capacity is 16.5 quarts. Perhaps more remained. My new aluminum radiator has one 1 1/4 inch thick row, versus my old copper brass's 2 rows at 5/8 thick a piece It probably holds more coolant with one big wide row.

If I press the off switch on the climate control panel, I can see and hear the heater valve shut.

I paid more attention to the new bypass hose's installation. The new one was shorter than the one I took out, which was leaking inside the elbow. When I lined it up I decided I could cut another half inch off the end which attaches to the intake manifold. Doing this allowed it to install without increasing the bend in the hose, taking the stress off it, and possibly increasing the coolant flow through it.

I reused my old hose clamps after fully cleaning them, and making sure they were not binding or had any sharp edges. I'll re torque them after a few heat cycles.

I put the white box the radiator came in under the engine. Hopefully when I wake up, I see no drips.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top