Geeesammy Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 In a nutshell, the current (or what is left of it:mad:) harmonic balancer on my car is going to need to be replaced. From what I can tell the grooved section completely separated from the rubber, rendering my alternator, power steering pump and water pump useless since the pulley is now obviously much smaller than it needs to be. I've been looking to replace this with either a new, or slightly used harmonic balancer, but those are a little more costly. $300 or so new, and the best I can find is around $150 plus shipping used. I'm not a cheapskate, but I can pick up an underdrive pulley on multiple different sites for $70-$80 with shipping included. That is the better option for me currently. My general question's here since I have given the reasons I am asking them... Has anyone ran a U/D pulley on a daily? If so, did it cause any damage in the somewhat immediate (3-6 months) time after installation? I know that the car obviously the engine is not designed to run under the conditions of a U/D pulley, but I'm just curious if I can get away with it for a month or two, and not cause too much extra damage, and if I can run it longer safely, then so be it. The car is a 1992 Supra with a 1JZ swap. Thanks for any input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordell Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 An underdrive pulley causes damage? Really? A fucked up or shitty balancer will. Worst thing that can happen is your alternator doesn't spin fast enough to keep up charging and thats pretty slim chance on most applications, but that doesn't cover teh balancer part. Not sure how your car is set up, but if the pulley is part of the balancer $80 sounds pretty damn cheap. A good balancer is neccesary to keep wear down in the engine and since your balancer is fucked up I strongly recommend you buy OE or better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeesammy Posted March 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 An underdrive pulley causes damage? Really? A fucked up or shitty balancer will. Worst thing that can happen is your alternator doesn't spin fast enough to keep up charging and thats pretty slim chance on most applications, but that doesn't cover teh balancer part. Not sure how your car is set up, but if the pulley is part of the balancer $80 sounds pretty damn cheap. A good balancer is neccesary to keep wear down in the engine and since your balancer is fucked up I strongly recommend you buy OE or better. The argument made on many forums is that NOT running a harmonic balancer and running an underdrive pulley instead will potentially cause internal damage, which seems realistic, however no one has ever (from what I can find) posted anything on the forums directly linking the failure to the U/D pulley though. Toyota needs to eliminate the designer of this POS. OEM Replacement. http://i.imgur.com/TineCLB.jpg Extremely primitive, would take pictures of my current snafu, but with limited space in my bay, and even less light, it wouldn't be much help. White is the section I have no more, long gone. Literally broke lose of the Pink section, which is the rubber which I assume acts as the balancer. http://i.imgur.com/1VfKeCc.jpg Underdrive Pulley, direct replacement for the whole harmonic balancer assembly. http://i.imgur.com/GReQacS.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordell Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 Balancers wear out eventually and seperate around the elastometer just like yours. A balancer prevents bearing wear over time by absorbing the harmonics creating by a running engine, how long that wear takes to become evident is impossible to know. I would not run with out a balancer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeesammy Posted March 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 Balancers wear out eventually and seperate around the elastometer just like yours. A balancer prevents bearing wear over time by absorbing the harmonics creating by a running engine, how long that wear takes to become evident is impossible to know. I would not run with out a balancer. Thanks for the input. Looks like I'll just be spending a bit extra to get it done right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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