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Harmonic balancer

I didn't know they could fail until mine fell apart while removing the alternator, which I thought was defective. Is that a common problem?

The rubber separated from the hub but was still a tight fit.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins
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Not terribly uncommon. I missed what kinf of car/engine and age/mileage

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2000 Honda CRV, 80,000 miles. For several years it's squealed briefly after starting in very cold weather if the battery had drained from a week or more of non-use. I thought that was the alternator bearing or belt slipping, because its pivot bolt had seized from road salt corrosion and I couldn't tighten the belt. Charging the battery the day before prevented the squeal. Perhaps the squeal was the outer ring of the pulley slipping. It drives the A/C and alternator, while the center hub drives power steering. I had noticed that the A/C belt seemed slightly misaligned. The belt area is cramped against the wheel well and hard to even see into unless the P/S is removed.

I can't complain, for 20 years hardly anything went wrong with the car, just rust. But now it's 22 and showing its age. The 2002 and later ones had more problems. The dealer's lot is nearly empty and they told me the new car shortage may last two more years, until US semiconductor manufacture ramps up. Personally I could do without all the fancy electronics. I learned to control a skid on ice before ABS, for both cars and dirt bikes.

I unbolted the mounting bracket to remove the alternator, then lagged it to a wood beam to beat on it without risking the engine block. What finally loosened the pivot bolt was a long steel bar milled to fit and twist the large square end. Twisting the threaded end only broke it off. The bearings hadn't seized but they did allow the rotor to rub and score the stator. I may rebuild it for practice and drive it with a small gas engine as a high current battery charger, like Neon John's, with a large rheostat as a manual regulator.

Why are tracked vehicles rattling past my house?

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

I've heard they come apart at high RPM. I imagine they could come apart with age as well.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

Not terribly uncommon. I missed what kinf of car/engine and age/mileage

Reply to
Clare Snyder

I had the outer ring on one creep back towards the engine until it was scraping on the timing cover on a small block Chevy once . Took me a while to figure out where it was coming from !

Reply to
Snag

I had the outer ring on one creep back towards the engine until it was scraping on the timing cover on a small block Chevy once . Took me a while to figure out where it was coming from !

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Apparently they have no core charge value. I could use the parts as hydraulic press fixtures, or adapt the hub to a gas engine to drive the alternator with the original ribbed belt.

The tracked vehicle was a paving machine, not military. One never knows, people collect militaria and I drove off the narrow road into the woods once to avoid an oncoming M113 APC. I've been the culprit too, helping re-enactors roll a cannon down a back road.

Someone around here has a 105mm recoilless rifle on a Jeep. He had to make a fake breech from wood and styrofoam to keep it legal.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

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