harmonic balancer on Liberty diesel

docwylie · **Joined:** Mon Aug 22, 2011 9:52 pm **Posts:** 7

Hello all CRD genii,

Posted this question in another area also. '05 Liberty diesel with unexplainable noise in front of engine.
Pulled serpentine belt and still the noise. While removing all pulleys to get into the timing belt cover, we found the harmonic balancer was toast. Timing belt, idlers and tensioner appear pristene. Light tap and harmonic balancer fell out of crankshaft pulley. Reinstalled everything and she runs much smoother with the balancer out but that may be understandable since the rubber/neoprene center was shredded allowing the balancer to wobble within the crank pulley. Question....how necessary is this harmonic balancer? I know it was engineered with this device but what purpose does it really serve. I know some who have removed this device and got along fine. I think the balancer failed because we had a transmission oil cooler leak and the tranny fluid was blown back onto the balancer/crankshaft pulley for some time. Recently replaced cooler which is also the A/C cooler(top half is a/c bottom half is tranny cooler).

Tinman · **Joined:** Mon Apr 10, 2006 10:45 am **Posts:** 308

I don't think an engine without a balancer will give you a good service life. It will wear more internally. I emailed Fluidampr about a model for the jeep but no go. I have a Fluidampr on my Dodges and it was a significant improvement on the older one when the original wore out. I'd replace it.

Hexus · **Posted:** Sat Oct 27, 2012 10:16 pm

If the Damper is out, you'll see some pretty significant engine wear pretty quickly. Crankshafts and larger steel parts do tend to flex and bend without the Harmonic Balancer (Damper) in place. It won't be an overnight issue, but it will happen pretty quickly once it starts and greatly reduce the life of your engine components, and in a CRD's case, the engine itself.

Continue at your own risk.

Cowpie1 · **Posted:** Thu Nov 22, 2012 1:53 pm

Agreed. The Damper is a very important component. It is easy to crack a crankshaft and do upstair damage without it on the engine or continuing to run a bad one. Commercial diesel owners (that have any idea of what they are doing) will change out the damper on an engine between 400-500,000 miles which is half life or less on a typical commercial heavy diesel. Not that bad of an idea to change one on the CRD when doing the 100,000 mile belt job.

Big Montana · **Posted:** Thu Nov 22, 2012 8:54 pm

I don't even know what this is, and I've been on this site for years. Have these ever failed before on the CRD? Is this a joke? It's not next to the blinker fluid is it?

Just when I think I'm learning about cars I hear this and I feel like I should just keep teaching English and leave the Jeep alone.

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Fri Nov 23, 2012 4:49 pm

Harmonic balancer is the big pulley on the front of the engine. it looks like one piece but is actually two with a hub that bolts to the crank and the pulley section that has a rubber isolator between them. I have seen crankshafts that have snapped in two pieces when the harmonic balancer has failed.
If you wanted to save the US, try teaching English to the Lawyers who write regulations. A RED PEN in the hands of an English Teacher regardless of Political Orientation could reduce the mass of regulations by at least 1/2, with out changing the content. :ROTFL:

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:47 am

Big Montana wrote:

I don't even know what this is, and I've been on this site for years. Have these ever failed before on the CRD?

This is not the first report - but it's not real common - so at least two vs a number of folks that are at timing belt change.
100K changeout might be a bit excessive - but I'd definitely inspect it carefully and if you're looking at a second timing belt - I'd add that to the list.

capatob · **Joined:** Wed Aug 30, 2017 5:33 am **Posts:** 4

50 thousand kilometeres ago the rattling noise I had while the engine was cold turned out to be the harmonic balancer. Fitted a good second hand one because I was told they are hard to get. Noise is now back.

GordnadoCRD · **Posted:** Sun Apr 15, 2018 10:30 am

https://www.idparts.com/serpentine-belt-harmonic-balancer-liberty-crd-p-3883.html

geordi · **Posted:** Sun Apr 15, 2018 1:19 pm

They aren't hard to get, but they ARE important. Don't run without it, and if you find chunks of the rubber missing - replace it ASAP!

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Sun Apr 15, 2018 2:30 pm

Three of the major online Mopar retailers have the 2.8 CRD harmonic balancer pulley listed for less than $110 dollars.
PN 5072669AA :google:

https://www.moparpartsgiant.com/parts/j ... 669aa.html
https://www.factorymoparparts.com/oem-p ... -5072669aa
https://www.moparnow.com/oem-parts/mopa ... -5072669aa

:SOMBRERO:

rancherman · **Posted:** Sun Apr 15, 2018 4:38 pm

Broken cranks, typically right behind the snout.. stem from a poor or faulty or missing 'balancer'.
I stress 'balancer' because it's more of a harmonic DAMPNER.

Every impulse from a firing cylinder is just like winding up a spring, and it lets go. These shock waves travel the full length of the crank.
A crankshaft is just like a 'bell'. It rings. Just tap on one that is siting upright outside an engine. An old trick when I frequented a swap meets looking for good used parts, was to pick up an old valve, and lightly tap on the counterweight of used crankshaft. If it rang like a bell, I was pretty sure it was 'good'. If it went 'thud', then it had millions of fissures (probably from a nitro engine) I would 'pass' on that particular crank.

When these harmonics get to a certain frequency (remember the person who can sing into an empty wine glass, breaking it?) Not saying it's going to break immediately like the wine glass, but after time It can.
Then add in the buzz saw vibration of the timing components loading up the front of the crank, and when these two sources of harmonics meet; typically just ahead of the #1 main, stress cracks eventually develop.
I had an old set of brake disks that needed to be turned down, but the ol boy running the brake lathe was having trouble keeping them from 'vibrating' and chattering during the cutting process. He took a fat strap of rubber and wrapped it around the outside diameter of the disk, and that took care of the 'buzzing', problem solved.
That ring of rubber on our harmonic dampner absorbs the 'ringing' of the crank.

Yes, you need one.

wgmeisheid · **Joined:** Sat Jul 27, 2013 5:35 pm **Posts:** 2

My balancer went up but they are not available anywhere and Jeep has them on backorder till February (currently 21 on backorder) so I use PartsRequest.com to find a used one to get my vehicle running. Three were listed and I am having one sent from Texas to my mechanic. Total cost with shipping $120 and a 30 day guarantee. At least this will get me up and running until I can get a new one, which I would eventually need. The used one appears fine but has 110,000 on the engine.

I don't know what the other 20 people are going to do. This is a real problem and I wonder where they are going to get the parts since no one carries them any more and who is gong to ramp up production for so few units? This could be a major problem going forward.

Just to let you all know.

thesameguy · **Joined:** Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:24 pm **Posts:** 652

Have you tried talking to Damper Doctor? They've rebuilt a bunch of old NLA dampers for me over the years.

https://www.damperdoctor.com/

wgmeisheid · **Joined:** Sat Jul 27, 2013 5:35 pm **Posts:** 2

Thanks for the info. I sent DamperDoctor a request for an estimate.

rancherman · **Posted:** Mon Feb 03, 2020 11:41 am

thesameguy wrote:

Have you tried talking to Damper Doctor? They've rebuilt a bunch of old NLA dampers for me over the years.

https://www.damperdoctor.com/

This guy too; www.hbrepair.com Did a NLA Perkins balancer for me last Summer. Absolutely no detectable 'run out'.
Both repair guys use a much better filler, that withstands heat and oil degradation better than the original compounds.
I was told that really the only thing that 'kills' this new compound is poor quality belts, which create an excess of static electricity.. which can mess with the electron bond of the polymers used.
They give a lifetime warrantee.
As supply of oem balancers dries up, this may be the way to go.

Mountainman · **Posted:** Mon Feb 03, 2020 1:58 pm

wgmeisheid wrote:

Thanks for the info. I sent DamperDoctor a request for an estimate.

Please report back on the cost :JEEPIN:

2prong · **Joined:** Thu Jan 30, 2014 1:29 pm **Posts:** 6

Hi All. Capatob's post up above mentioned a rattling noise while engine was cold. Same deal here with my 06. Assuming it was most likely the HB, i followed a step by step and got down to the HB. Started the engine to see if the noise went away with belt off but noise was still there (with only HB turning). Does this still point to the HB being shot? Visually looks ok and not seeing any noticeable wobble. The sound when cold is like a rattling clanking sound. Seems to go away 75% or so once warmed up. Don't want to damage it by continuing to drive it so i'm just taking the opportunity to do some other work on it while i'm troubleshooting the noise.

Thanks for any input/advice. Really grateful for this forum! My '06 liberty crd has 240K on it and otherwise still runs like a happy little tank. Need to do the fuel pump mod as i occasionally have air in line issues but otherwise i'm almost at 10 years with this beast and grateful for it. Couldn't have made it this far without this forum and ya'll!

-Bill :juggle:

Rabbit566 · **Joined:** Wed Mar 21, 2018 9:45 am **Posts:** 5

I'm having the same issue with the crankshaft pulley :banghead:

... I've found 1 new oem on ebay for over 500 bucks. I'm considering the rebuilt option unless someone on here has found a dealer for this part.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Mon May 08, 2023 10:20 pm

Rabbit566 wrote:

I'm having the same issue with the crankshaft pulley :banghead:

... I've found 1 new oem on ebay for over 500 bucks. I'm considering the rebuilt option unless someone on here has found a dealer for this part.

Damper Doctor is probably your best option unless you can find a "good" used one. New ones are no longer available anywhere in the US. :furious:

https://damperdoctor.com/index.php?route=common/home

harmonic balancer on Liberty diesel

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