I took this weekend to try and fix some minor issues with my car, one of which being a chirping belt. I found the alternator was a half rib out so I added a spacer washer, but I also noticed a small wobble to the crank pulley and harmonic balancer. It's less than 1/8" that it wobbles (hard to get an exact amount) but I was wondering if this is something I should be concerned about? It's a newly rebuilt crate 5.7 with TPI, but I re-used the old harmonic balancer. It was properly removed and installed with a proper tool, but I don't know the previous history of it. I'm also still getting a bit of belt chirp, although it seems to be less pronounced (I did not replace the belt as it's just a couple months old). Could the wobbling crank pulley be causing this as well? In case it is relevant, it has a slightly rough quality to the idle, not as though it is missing though. At any speed off idle it feels fine.

 

I hate to even mention it, but the crank snout could be bent. It's not just the pulley that could be out of whack. And the fact that your balancer is "wobbling" in addition to the crank pulley is NOT a good sign.

I'd start with replacing the pulley. Then the balancer. And then you're only left with one thing it can be if that doesn't fix it- the crank itself.

 

I hope that's not the case. The wobble is very slight, I can't even record a proper video of it where it shows up properly. I may try putting a new harmonic balancer on it since the other one is of unknown age and see if it changes anything.

 

could take the pulley off,start the engine,and see if any wobble of the harmonic balancer front face is noticed-it is fairly common for some wobble of the outer rim to be noticed as it is mounted to the hub with a rubber sleeve.pulleys can vary quite a bit too-you might have to try several to find one that turns perfectly true.

 

Got the balancer replaced, which actually went really smoothly. Didn't have to disconnect the fans or anything. After doing that the balancer is nice and true. The crank pulley also looks like it's pretty strait, maybe not perfect, but close. I was still having a chirp to the belt, so I replaced it with a new one. Hopefully once this one wears in I won't get the chirp back.