Balancer bolts

Chevycummins

Chevycummins

Bad case of Tinkeritis!
Joined
Jul 15, 2008
Messages
3,488
anyone every had the bolts for the balancer come out or break off??? got to looking over the truck just checking things out and noticed the balancer had a slight wobble to it. just thought it was wore out and got under and realized it was a fluid dampner and that there was only one bolt holding it on. i attempted to remove the only one holding it on to match up with the bolts we have at work and it broke off. once i removed the dampner i found that two bolts have fallen out and two are broke off in the crank. also it has been loose for a little while as two of the holes are messed up now along with the face of both sides of the dampner. :bang

just curious if anyone has had this problem before and if you was able to get the bolts out without having to remove the front end or pull the motor??? i am hoping that i will be able to remove the fan and shroud to get a right angle drill in there to get them out. also in an attempt to salvage the dampner we are gonna bore the holes out and sleeve them along with machining the faces of the balancer. i think i am gonna have to make a shim to shim the balancer back out.

any input or advice would be appretiated i am plan on tackling it this weekend so i can get back on the road.
 
Damn! How long has it been since you installed the Fluidampner? Did you use a torque wrench when you tightened the bolts?

I went 125 ft lbs and some red Loctite and I have been good with the stock bolts.
 
i didnt tyler is the one that had installed it before i had purchase the truck. i have no idea how long it has been on there or if it was torqued to spec. i was told loctite was used and that he had cranked down on them
 
the one bolt that was left was either rusted in or had loctite on it cause as i tried to take it out is when it broke.
 
I had the bolts come loose on my stock damper, I figured it out right away though you would hear a clunking whenever you killed the engine. I upgraded to the fluiddamper after that & also drilled the crank & put in the roll pins. No problems afer that, did you install the roll pins?
 
it was already on the truck apon purchase. it appears there wasnt any roll pins in it. there is one pin that is sheared off on the end of the crank.
 
I had a broken bolt once on a Freightshaker with a 5.9. Ended up welding a washer to the stub sticking out then welding a nut to the washer.. Heated the lock tight up and it came right out. Trucks still going to this date. I don't think many would recommend it but just something Ive done in the past. Gotta love flat rate shops...
 
Probably reused the bolts, they are torque to yeild and need to be replaced everytime they are taken off. After I took the dampener off to do a front seal the bolts would never hold there torque until I replaced the bolts.
 
scat said:
I had a broken bolt once on a Freightshaker with a 5.9. Ended up welding a washer to the stub sticking out then welding a nut to the washer.. Heated the lock tight up and it came right out. Trucks still going to this date. I don't think many would recommend it but just something Ive done in the past. Gotta love flat rate shops...
Click to expand...

yeah thats what i would of done if they stuck out, but they are down about 3/8" in to the crank.
 
Muddin_dude06 said:
Probably reused the bolts, they are torque to yeild and need to be replaced everytime they are taken off. After I took the dampener off to do a front seal the bolts would never hold there torque until I replaced the bolts.
Click to expand...

i wonder if it is that, or they can only be reused so many times before being replaced. cummins wants $9 a bolt, gonna give Jeff a call today and see what he can do on prices.
 
Bolts were replaced when the damper was installed. Damper is about a year and a half old.
 
I had mine come loose on the puller. I found this right before a hook, tightened them up, and they were loose before the next hook. Replaced the pins(in the pin kit), and used locktight on the bolts. No problems since.
 
We always pin the hub (usually 2X) on viscous damper builds - FluiDampr in particular is prone to this issue... CTD is a harsh harmonic environment.
 
Well i tested the new bolts in the two holes that had the bolts fall out and out of shear luck they are not messed up. Gonna try to take the two broken ones out after work.

Also had to take .020 off the back of the damper. Waiting til after lunch to hear what had to be taken off the front side of it. Looking at about the same as the back maybe more to true it up.

Crank appears to still be good. Will know more after i get a straight edge on it.
 
Back side of the damper.

imagejpeg_2.jpg
 
I called the guy at fluid damper when i puchased my damper he said you need to install new bolts when installing the new damper. He also said anything over 3500rpm it need the dowel pins installed. I asked him what happen if I didn't install the dowel pins and was turning it over 3500rpm and he said the bolts would get loose.
 
well i got one broken bolt out and started on the other and the easy out broke off flush with the crank. gonna try some more heat and a pair of vise grips tomorrow night to see if i can get it out or loose.
 
Hope ya put a new seal in to while your at it, heat probably melted the little thing.
 
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