Anybody know why my balancer did this? (pics)

[Wi Stang]

Last week I was adjusting my idle, and I noticed that my HB was wobling a little. There was no vibration or anything, but I decided it would be best to replace it. I put a stock replacement on it figuring that would be OK at least for a while, I put it in and all was well. No viration, and no woble when it was running. Today, about a week later, I finally got the clutch broke in from the new tranny swap, and I took a few acceleations at WOT through 3rd, and after that I could tell there was a significant vibration. I limped it home about 1/2 mile, and found out that the new balancer was cracked, and vibrating like a SOB. It seemed like the new one went on a lot easier than the stock one did when I put it on.
There oil looks good, and the Coolant looks good. Didn't look like there was any mixing of fluids. Is there anything that I should check out on the car before I get a new balancer? I figure on getting a good one this time. Probably a Fluidamper.
I am hoping that it is just that the balancer was crap.
Here are the pics.

 

[69clark]

Yikes!!!

 

[HISSIN50]

I agree ^^.

It's been quite some time since I researched balancers (it was a pretty exhaustive bit of research) but something in the back of my mind is telling me to perhaps steer clear of fluid dampers. Now your combo is quite a bit different than what I have, and I was researching for my needs, but it might be worth making sure that there shouldnt be issues with a fluid damper for you.

Atleast you got it figured quick and got that thing outta' there. Good luck.

 

[godstangit]

I agree ^^.

It's been quite some time since I researched balancers (it was a pretty exhaustive bit of research) but something in the back of my mind is telling me to perhaps steer clear of fluid dampers. Now your combo is quite a bit different than what I have, and I was researching for my needs, but it might be worth making sure that there shouldnt be issues with a fluid damper for you.

Atleast you got it figured quick and got that thing outta' there. Good luck.

Holy crap!+And I'am freaking about a little surge prop, FWIW I went thru 2 crank dampeners, I went the cheep route and got a Ford replacement and no proplems ...yet.

 

[Green 94 5.0]

its been a while since i researched too, but the research i did all said to steer clear of non elastomer harmonic balancers. for the money the fluidamper costs, get an ultralight romac. i am on my 3rd one (3 different cars), and none of them have let me down yet.

 

[gustang818]

You could have had a disaster there! That balancer must have had a crack/defect in it from the manufacturer. Can you return it and get your money back? You should probably replace the front seal just to be sure it didn't get torn up by the crack.

 

[Wi Stang]

I got the balancer from autozone a week ago. I am going to take it back today and get my money back. I looked at the front seal, and it looked OK, but I'll just replace it anyway to be safe.

Do you think it could have damaged my crank at all? And if so is there a way to check? It visually looks fine, but I would like to check everything I can before I get it back together.

I'll look into the Romac balancer instead of the Fluidamper.

 

[GRGT1994]

Great high-res picture. I'm a little curious about the area highlighted in yellow (below). It looks like something bad happened there. Like maybe the key rode up there. Is it possible that mark was there when you bought it? Or is it possible you mounted the balancer with the key off the groove (not likely because you said it was easy to put on)? Or maybe that happened after the crack.

The other area I was wondering about is highlighted in red. It looks like cracks too. But maybe that is just surface irregularities.

 

[Wi Stang]

I know that when I mounted it the key was lined up fine. When I took the balancer off there were a bunch of metal shavings that fell out. The only thing I can think of is that the crack allowed the opening to get a little bigger, and allowed the key to ride up in there like you said.

I didn't notice the area that you marked in red. I am about to take it back to the auto store, I'll check out that area before I go and see what it could be.

 

[Methodical]

If it did damage your crank make them pay.

 

[Wi Stang]

GRGT1994: I looked at the spot that you indicated it the red area, and it turns out that was just some fuzz from the rag that I used to wipe it down. Pretty much the only damage was where the keyway broke and the key rode up.
I think I will take a dial indicator and turn the crank over to make sure that it isn't screwed up. Visually it looks OK. Doesn't look like the key got messed up at all.