Ok, i fear that i may have screwed something up attempting to remove the harmonic balancer. Here is what i did.

I removed the 3 small bolts, the bolt that goes into the crankshaft, and removed the pulley. I then bolted the harmonic balancer puller to the harmonic balancer. After cranking on it with a 1/2" ratchet i could not get the balancer to come off. Taking my friends advice, he stuck a 2ft screw driver in between the bolts of the puller, to prevent it from turning the motor, and i got a 4ft breaker bar and reemed on the ratchet until i actually broke the wratchet. The ratchet just spins now.

First of all, is it possibe that i damaged the crank or something else? Secondly, why the hell wont it come out? Thirdly, there are several little bits that can go onto the end of the thing u screw onto the crank, which one should i use?

It is a 32yr old 400sb and there is a good chance that it has never been removed.

Please hep me! I am very scared that i may have messed something up!!! AHHHHHH

Also, would it be a good idea to reaplace the balancer? If so, what would be a good replacement?
THanks!

 

You mentioned the 3 bolts, but I saw no mention of the 1 center balancer to crank bolt mentioned.

Did you remove the balancer to crank center bolt?

 

He did mention it.

 

Always, ALWAYS, remove the center bolt and washer then reinstall just the center bolt. Do not use a puller that pushes into the center bolt hole. You WILL screw up the threads on the end of the crank.

The washer holds the balancer in place. Removing the bolt and washer then reinstalling just the bolt provides a solid surface for the puller to push against without causing damage to the threads.

The balancer is a very tight press onto the crank. It needs considerable force with a puller to get it off however you seem to have used more force than what's normally required to remove the balancer. It's possible the excess force was because the center of the puller was digging into the hole in the crank and preventing you from turning the bolt to pull the balancer off.

It's never a good idea to reuse old balancers, especially one that old. A new balancer, even a non SFI balancer is cheap.

 

What is a good brand harmonic balancer? I need to replace the one in my 89 305 TBI. Autozone has Dorman and Pioneer. Then there is Summit, but they list 41 different balancers.

 

Did you break the threads on the removal tool? That happened to me when I first removed mine.