Difficulty removing harmonic balancer

[075.9Cummins]

Difficulty removing harmonic balancer

Trying to replace the front crankshaft oil seal and having difficulty removing the harmonic balancer. The harmonic balancer spins when I try to remove the mounting bolts. I haven’t seen this issue in any of the youtubes or forum writeups involving the 5.9 with the 48RE.

I placed a long pry bar from the ground to between two of the three flanges on the front of the balancer but when I attempt to unscrew one of the bolts the truck lifts up on the pry bar. You can see and feel the engine rise up. Didn’t know I was such an animal.

Anyway, can the balancer be damaged by placing counter force on those three tangs? Is there another smarter way of loosening the bolts?

Oh, yeah, as long as we’re at it, any tips on getting the balancer to pull free once the bolts are removed?

Thanks,

 

[Timd32]

Maybe try a barring tool on the passenger side of the Trans there is a plug. Pop that out a different insert tool use a long breaker bar it holds the engine in place.

https://www.genosgarage.com/product/tool-ltbt/tools

 

[075.9Cummins]

Good idea. I was so focused on the front side didn't think about the back end of the crank shaft.

Is it unusual for the crank shaft to spin like this?

 

[Darkbloodmon]

Is there another smarter way of loosening the bolts?

Baring tool will definitely make this easier, you can try breaking it free with a hard fast pull on a wrench with some leverage if you have the room for it. A soft head deadblow would be ideal. Soft taps to get it off, keep in mind it's not meant to take impacts and I wouldn't use a pry bar against the timing cover plate its stamped steel. Mine came off without much fuss when I installed my Fluiddmpr and a new oversized seal at 230K.

This is probably useless for your situation now but if the truck was at operating temp before you started this it could've been easier with the thermal expansion of the bolts the crank itself holds heat for hours..... Same process for removing exhaust manifold bolts/studs.

 

[075.9Cummins]

Darkbloodman,

So no pry bar to hold the stamped steel harmonic balancer in place while I'm pulling a long socket handle to loosen the bolts.

You said, "Soft taps to get it off, keep in mind it's not meant to take impacts..." I know I need to be careful to avoid damaging the harmonic balancer but would it be OK to use an impact wrench on the bolts? Would an impact wrench have an adverse affect on the crank shaft? With enough extensions I could reach thru the front frame to access the bolts with an impact wrench.

 

[BigPapa]

An impact will be fine. If you don’t have a barring tool, you can remove the inspection plate and use a large screw driver or pry bar to hold the flex plate. Just use common sense. It will also require a helper.

 

[Timd32]

Is it unusual for the crank shaft to spin like this?

Nope. It's pretty normal to spin.

Some good ideas above if you don't have access to a barring tool.

You might need one to retorque it once you reassemble.

$15 on Amazon, I would not overspend on this, those would probably be more then fine.

 

[075.9Cummins]

Thanks Timd32,

I saw the Amazon listed barring tools. I admit to being a little leary of putting a lot of torque on those for fear of them breaking or chipping.

I did just finish seeing a youtube where a guy showed how to rig a ratcheting strap to hold the balancer fast to remove and torque the bolts. Will report back tomorrow.

 

[BigPapa]

Yep, like a big strap wrench.

 

[075.9Cummins]

FLUIDAMPR INSTALL 5.9 CUMMINS the EASY way-YouTube located at shows using a ratchet strap to keep the harmonic balancer from rotating. He demonstrates the process at both the 3:00 minute and 12:00 minute marks. He also mentions the key is to not secure the ratchet part of the strap in-line with the balancer but to secure the ratchet part of the strap forward of the balancer, or in other words secure the ratchet part of the strap towards the front bumper of the truck. In my picture below you can see the black ratchet strap extending from the bottom of the balancer to the front of the truck where I have a hitch installed.

My bolts were on so tight my Craftsman 18” 3/8 breaker bar bent like a recurve bow and required a pipe extension to get enough torque to loosen.

Now I just need to wait for the rains to stop so I can remove the cover and replace the leaking seal. Hurry up and wait.

Kept trying to edit to insert a hyperlink for the YouTube site but it keeps being changed to the large picture.

 

[BigPapa]

Glad you got it off. You’ll need to get you a set of 1/2” sockets and a 1/2” breaker bar if you plan to do much work on your truck.

 

[nibroc]

Glad you got it off. You’ll need to get you a set of 1/2” sockets and a 1/2” breaker bar if you plan to do much work on your truck.

and a long piece of pipe over the breaker bar for leverage

 

[075.9Cummins]

Although the "strap wrench" worked there was still some rotating of the balancer and it took a great amount of torque to break each bolt free. Could this process damage the rubber dampener? I know anything is possible but not knowing how these things are put together I wonder how likely it would be. Aren't the inner and outer metal parts of the balancer completely separated by the rubber?