Buy a good harmonic balancer!!!

When I put this motor together, I used the cheap $40 balancer from O'Reilly. Basically just a stock replacement.

Then after almost 6 months of trying to track down a driveline vibration, I finally got rid of it by swapping in a moderately priced harmonic balancer.

Oh, yeah, AFTER having the rear-end re-set and re-torqued, the driveshaft straightened and balanced, 2 new u-joints, new motor mounts, new transmission mounts, new transmission tailshaft housing bushing and seals, and all kinds of adjusting my cal-tracs (also, purchased, but did not install, 2-degrees differential shims).

Now, this was not all wasted money, because each of these was a needed job or repair, and several of these actually improved my vibration, but the final fix was a $70 decent harmonic balancer.

So, if you are putting in a new engine, at least spring for a decent balancer.

http://www.professional-products.com/dampersProductSBford.php

 

looks just like the one i have on mine

 

Glad you found the source of the vibration. The new designs are far superior to the stock design.

 

The stock one slipped on and off the crank by hand and actually wiggled a little while sitting there unbolted.

I was not aware until I read the installation instructions for this one that it was supposed to be a press-fit.

This one was definitely a press fit, and revs right up without any vibes.

It is only rated for 6500 rpm, but so is everything else on this engine (intake, cam, etc). For a little more, you can get an SFI approved model.

 

Glad you found the problem. I want a new one and some polished stainless pulleys for my truck but a balancer is a minimum of 200 by now im sure.

Mavericks gettin one though. Speaking of which. I need to get back on that

 

If you get one that is shaped like this one, read my website for suggestions and hints beforehand.

This thing did NOT go on really easily. It is so much bigger than the stock one that there is VERY LITTLE CLEARANCE in a couple of areas. I had to grind off a couple of casting flaws in my cast iron water pump before it would spin without rubbing.

But, it was worth it.

 

I got the same balancer too!! Found mine on CL from a guy in Chicago he shipped it to me for $50.00 total. So far so good.

 

Timing marks don't look right, both my 71's have the marks on the other side on the damper.

 

I thought you felt the vibration in the rear...? No, wait, it was the seat of your pants, I think... Glad you found it. What led you to it?

 

They come engraved with 3 sets of timing marks. One set for each of the different timing pointer positions used by Ford.

 

This dampner has three sets of timing marks on it, makes it work for several applications

 

I found it, in part, by covering all the other bases, and still having a little bit of vibration left. I had a BUNCH to start with, but all those fixes fixed some, but there was still a little mirror-fuzzing vibration left.

One afternoon, I was cruising, and thought that if it was drivetrain noise, if I put it in neutral while going 60mph, it would still vibrate. Neutral, no vibes. So, leaving it neutral, I gunned it up to 3500 and held it for a second, and the mirrors start to shimmy again.

Then yesterday when I pulled off that O'Reilly balancer, it came off by hand VERY easily, and even wiggled while it was still on the shaft with the bolt pulled off. Not nearly as firm a fit as it is supposed to be. So, it may have been tightened down with a little space on the bottom side of the shaft if that is where it settled while I cranked down the bolt. Just enough to cause a little vibe. Not to mention the shoddy construction of the thing in the first place.