Could this be the first write-up on the replacement of the harmonic balancer?

[LX101North]

Harmonic balancer has a slight wobble

I can't find a single write up on this anywhere. I'm guessing it's pretty straightforward. New pulley? New bolt? Problem solved?

 

[ENGINE er]

Curious as to why?

The hard part is isolating the engine from turning.

I just wrap the serp belt around the pulley, then frame and hold it in place with a pry bar. That's for on and off, just switch sides.

 

[Muddy Bean]

Curious as to why?

https://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/793264-first-person-positively-identify-sound-gets-12pk-norcal-microbrew.html

 

[inkpot]

The bigger question may be WHY is it crooked. Not a common thing to fail, especially on a newer rig. I have seen it on older FJ 40s. It is often due to wear on the crankshaft due to the key wearing out. John

 

[LX101North]

The bigger question may be WHY is it crooked. Not a common thing to fail, especially on a newer rig. I have seen it on older FJ 40s. It is often due to wear on the crankshaft due to the key wearing out. John

So my entire engine could basically be FD?!?!
Man, I hope to sweet baby Jesus thats not the case. Unfortunately, I cannot afford the Toyota pulley at this point in time, so I have what looks to be the next best thing in my grasp, a Powerbond pulley coming from O'Reilley's tomorrow. I hope it's not the worst case scenario. I watched a bunch of videos of other peoples cars that sounded much worse than mine(like someone was beating the s*** out of the engine with a hammer). They threw on a new harmonic balancer and it ran smooth as butter.
I'm not sure what to do at this point except for throw yet another part at this thing and hope for the best. I'm so emotionally and financially tied up up in this car now, that if it blew up I would just have toyota rebuild the ******* engine.

I'm gonna have to start looking into this lemon law situation.

 

[LX101North]

Curious as to why?

The hard part is isolating the engine from turning.

I just wrap the serp belt around the pulley, then frame and hold it in place with a pry bar. That's for on and off, just switch sides.

I used a chain wrench and a breaker bar last time. The po' mans combo.

 

[LX101North]

Another thing that I've mentioned when I was posting about my Timing belt job a couple months back, was when I got my harmonic balancer off the first time, there was no pulley puller necessary, damn thing practically fell off. If you've ever pulled a weight off a bench press bar, that's what it felt like coming off and putting back on. Does that seem a bit odd?

 

[LX101North]

I wish I knew more about these things......

......but for a part that has a job as important as this one, I just can't be sure. This is my harmonic balancer. The rubber is cracked all the way around it on both sides. That seems like it could cause issues, but I really wouldn't know. Where are my harmonica gurus at?! Play me a tune!

 

[LX101North]

One step closer to solving this problem....anyone have any thoughts so far?

So, I am 99% sure I found my high pitched whine/grind. I believe the crankshaft sensor plate and the crankshaft sprocket have been bumpin uglies. But why?! Might this be the beginning result of a failing harmonic balancer? You can see on the sensor plate and also on the sprocket some wear from rubbing together. The very corners of the teeth of the sprocket are rubbed down a bit and you can see here on the plate grooves from the teeth? Is this normal?! Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

 

[LX101North]

help? Yes? Ci?

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

I used a chain wrench and a breaker bar last time. The po' mans combo.

Using a chain wrench to hold the balancer to torque the nut has been known to damage the rubber on the balencer, just say'n. The reason for the two thread holes in the center of the balencer is where the correct tool goes to keep the load off the rubber.

 

[LX101North]

Using a chain wrench to hold the balancer to torque the nut has been known to damage the rubber on the balencer, just say'n. The reason for the two thread holes in the center of the balencer is where the correct tool goes to keep the load off the rubber.

Thank you sir, I will definitely keep that I mind the next time I remove/install this pulley. It makes sense. I'm going to invest in a compressor soon.

The problem is, this noise started before I even messed with my harmonic balancer. Maybe the PO messed with it. Wouldn't surprise me at this point.

 

[LX101North]

Here's a pic of the timing sprocket that's been slowly getting worked. No timing belt damage at all, but it got pretty damn close. I'm just going to leave this thing apart until I know for sure it was the cracked rubber in the pulley causing this potential train wreck.

 

[SupraTuRD]

Did you have the wobble prior to the timing belt job? When you used the chain wrench, did you wrap the chain around the outer ring of the harmonic dampener? If you did grasp the dampener on the outer ring, that may have cracked the rubber isolator when you untorqued the big crank bolt. Regarding the dampener slipping right off of the crank snout, that's pretty common on Toyotas. The rest of the parts look good. I'm thinking worst case scenario, you just need a new dampener.

 

[LX101North]

Did you have the wobble prior to the timing belt job? When you used the chain wrench, did you wrap the chain around the outer ring of the harmonic dampener? If you did grasp the dampener on the outer ring, that may have cracked the rubber isolator when you untorqued the big crank bolt. Regarding the dampener slipping right off of the crank snout, that's pretty common on Toyotas. The rest of the parts look good. I'm thinking worst case scenario, you just need a new dampener.

You know. I must have had the wobble because that plate was the source of the noise I've been trying to figure out for months. The funny thing is, the night I first heard it, I found a dab of coolant in my garage that looked like it was coming from the water pump. So, I thought the water pump was about shot...which it was. I'm still new to fixing my rig, so I really kinda overlooked the harmonic balancer during the last couple months. Instead I replaced the drive belt tensioner pulley, idler pulley, rebuilt power steering pump, new 100 amp alternator :whoops: then I was in the middle of a transmission flush, because my adventure into insanity led me down a rabbit hole of different whine noises I found online. I've been like a hypochondriac with an addiction to webMD. I got under the car to loosen the cooler line and instead just stared up at the pulleys watching them spin. That's when I noticed the slightest wobble in the crankshaft pulley. I had to get one overnight and I had a budget of $200.00, so I have a powerbond Pulley getting delivered tomorrow morning. I haven't heard anything negative and the supposedly they are 4 times stronger than OEM, used for racing, yada yada. Hopefully they aren't full of s$&@.
In regards to the chain wrench, I used a piece of my old serpentine belt and wrapped it around the pulley.That probably didn't help my cause any and that will definitely be the last time I do that. I didn't know that these pulleys are layered like that until last night. Ha! That's why I never suspected the crank pulley, even when I did TB. It just seemed solid as hell and I was pretty damn sure it was a bearing issue.....well at least I have a bunch of new parts that really needed to be changed out anyways.
Hey turd, you think that plate is good to go? No need to replace? Do you think everything will sit correctly once the new pulleyis on and hopefully not wobbling?

Here's the timeline. I thought it's been longer, but this has been ongoing for a month and a half. I've barely even driven my rig. Shoot, since I got it On October 11, I've only put a K on her. Lame!
https://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/787206-brand-new-high-pitched-noise-engine.html

https://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/787930-when-your-crank-pulley-bolt-laughing-you.html
https://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/790206-narrowing-down-whine-grind-hard-way.html
https://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/793264-first-person-positively-identify-sound-gets-12pk-norcal-microbrew.html

 

[Dashbeard]

I'm sure this issue has been resolved by now? I am having the same issue. I had my mechanic do the timing job and opted for him to basically replace every component; alternator, tensioners, idlers, fan bracket, wp, fan clutch and the harmonic balancer.

When I got the truck back everything was great but I noticed after a few weeks the truck started shaking slightly. But I had a huge trip planned and wasn't going to let a little vibration stop me. Stupid I know, but it is what I did.

We went from SWFL to Clayton GA, to Fort Smith AR and back home to SWFL. While on this trip I observed heard a knocking noise and thought the worse, popped the hood to look at the engine and pray when I observed the Harmonic balancer wobbling away. I figured damn, I'm going to have to fix that when I get home. Well by the end of the trip the wobble was very very bad, it's my daily so I had to keep driving it for work. Picked up the replacement balancer from AZ on friday wouldn't you guess it? The balancer failed as I was pulling into my driveway, I got very lucky that it didn't rip off the pulley and destroy everything under the hood.

Anyhow, I replaced the balancer and boom everything was solved, smooth as butter, I fell in love again.
Now wouldn't you guess it, within 2 weeks the shake was back and I could see the slightest little wobble.

I've been a few months since then and I'm in a position I can take some time to tear the truck apart.

I really hope something isn't wrong with my engine causing it to eat balancers, but this only started to occur after the mechanic did the timing job.

I plan on getting under there tomorrow and double check the CS bolt to see if its just coming loose.

If no one here has any better ideas, I'll probably exchange the balancer under warranty at AZ. If it comes back I'll then bite the dealer cost and use an OE to try that. But I really don't want some underlying issue to waste my money.

tldr; i have the same issue, please help