Thread: 55 Chevy balancer installation

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What's the best way to install the stock harmonic balancer on a '55 Chevy 265 engine? The crank's not drilled for a center bolt, so my balancer installation tool won't work. Do I just pound it on or what? ( I have a nice selection of large hammers...).

Originally posted by cla55ic
What's the best way to install the stock harmonic balancer on a '55 Chevy 265 engine? The crank's not drilled for a center bolt, so my balancer installation tool won't work. Do I just pound it on or what? ( I have a nice selection of large hammers...).

thats the only way i know to get it on. dont beat the edges up to bad. chevy. is not so bad, but i was beating a HB on a ford motor one time and broke the crankshaft. the HB fell off the motor with the end of the crankshaft in it. i felt like a fool, and had to pay for the core.

Never...NEVER....hammer a cold harmonic balancer onto a crank. The way most of us old timers do it is to place the balancer in a pan of boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Quickly grab the hot balancer with your wife's best towel, duck her blows, and run out to the garage. Place it on the crank, place a 2X6 on the front pf the balancer and then hammer it on. Metal swells when hot and shrinks when it cools off. Trying to hammer on a cold balancer runs the risk of getting it 1/2 the way on and then not being able to move it.

Originally posted by dljdad
Never...NEVER....hammer a cold harmonic balancer onto a crank. The way most of us old timers do it is to place the balancer in a pan of boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Quickly grab the hot balancer with your wife's best towel, duck her blows, and run out to the garage. Place it on the crank, place a 2X6 on the front pf the balancer and then hammer it on. Metal swells when hot and shrinks when it cools off. Trying to hammer on a cold balancer runs the risk of getting it 1/2 the way on and then not being able to move it.

back in 1960 most of the shops i worked in didnt have hot running water. would have been nice though.

ps...in 1960 we didnt have hot running water in the house.

Originally posted by dljdad
Never...NEVER....hammer a cold harmonic balancer onto a crank. The way most of us old timers do it is to place the balancer in a pan of boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Quickly grab the hot balancer with your wife's best towel, duck her blows, and run out to the garage. Place it on the crank, place a 2X6 on the front pf the balancer and then hammer it on. Metal swells when hot and shrinks when it cools off. Trying to hammer on a cold balancer runs the risk of getting it 1/2 the way on and then not being able to move it.

Won't this cause damage to the inertia ring?

Originally posted by erik erikson
Won't this cause damage to the inertia ring?

i have used blocks of wood, brass punch, a socket a little bigger than the hole in the HB. shouldn't be hitting the inertia ring, but they will take a right good lick if you accidentally hit it. clean it and put a little grease on it will help. you do what you have to do.

It seems like we once used a hydraulic bottle jack placed horizontally to push the darn balancer on.....we bucked it with a board but I cant remember what we placed the board against to hold it.....maybe that's why the radiator leaked after that????

mike in tucson

Originally posted by robot
It seems like we once used a hydraulic bottle jack placed horizontally to push the darn balancer on.....we bucked it with a board but I cant remember what we placed the board against to hold it.....maybe that's why the radiator leaked after that????

mike in tucson

it want no easy way, im talking one or two a day for a few years untill they put a bolt in the crank. i still dont remember having a tool to pull it back on with, untill later in life. it want no big deal unless you beat the edge of the hole up in the HB.

Thanx to everybody for the tips -- I was just nervous about using a 2-pound Ford wrench on the damn thing. I hadn't thought of heating the balancer, but it sounds like it will work. Can't use the wife's best towel to grab it, though -- I'm using that to set my new polished triple-deuce Offy manifold on.

Never...NEVER....hammer a cold harmonic balancer onto a crank. The way most of us old timers do it is to place the balancer in a pan of boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Quickly grab the hot balancer with your wife's best towel, duck her blows, and run out to the garage. Place it on the crank, place a 2X6 on the front pf the balancer and then hammer it on. Metal swells when hot and shrinks when it cools off. Trying to hammer on a cold balancer runs the risk of getting it 1/2 the way on and then not being able to


i havent been in a good argument(i mean discussion) in a long time and as useual i dont know what im talking about, but anybody believe you can put a HB in a pan of boiling water, take it out, run to the garage get it lined up and knock it on and believe that, that hot water made a dif. then i dont know what to say. it would have gone on as easy if it hadnt never seen any water. i dont believe 230 degrees for 5-10 min. would expand a HB hub enough anyway, but 5 min. later i know it wouldn't. there was thousands of them knocked on without any hot water.
we have 2 opinions now one say it will ,one say it want, now we need some facts.
im not trying to make nobody mad, but i would like to see some more opinions on this.

Originally posted by cla55ic
What's the best way to install the stock harmonic balancer on a '55 Chevy 265 engine? The crank's not drilled for a center bolt, so my balancer installation tool won't work. Do I just pound it on or what? ( I have a nice selection of large hammers...).

I was not aware of the problem of putting a hb on my 327 while the engine was out that would have been a great time to drill and tap for a installation tool. Ed ke6bnl

Originally posted by lt1s10
i have used blocks of wood, brass punch, a socket a little bigger than the hole in the HB. shouldn't be hitting the inertia ring, but they will take a right good lick if you accidentally hit it. clean it and put a little grease on it will help. you do what you have to do.

What I was asking about was the boiling of the water if it would cause the balancer to seperate from the interia ring.

Originally posted by erik erikson
What I was asking about was the boiling of the water if it would cause the balancer to seperate from the interia ring.

IM sorry i read something else into it. as far as IM concerned boiling water in a pot, don't do nothing either way. the motor will get that hot, when its running so the HB wouldn't never stay on. you ever put your hand on a block after you cut the motor off. i really hope Ed ke6bnl ant in the house boiling his HB now. i would say if you was to get the hub hot enough to expand that thick metal it would separate from the interia ring, but 230 degrees want.

Using your hammer and a good solid block of wood to install balancer is acceptable. If you have time and are willing I strongly recommend drilling and tapping the end of the crankshaft and installing a bolt. Not that hard to do.

Originally posted by lt1s10
IM sorry i read something else into it. as far as IM concerned boiling water in a pot, don't do nothing either way. the motor will get that hot, when its running so the HB wouldn't never stay on. you ever put your hand on a block after you cut the motor off. i really hope Ed ke6bnl ant in the house boiling his HB now. i would say if you was to get the hub hot enough to expand that thick metal it would separate from the interia ring, but 230 degrees want.

when the motor is hot, the crank is also hot, and thus would expand and take up the slack created by the HB expansion. The theory is to pu the balancer on hot, with the crank cold.

Works great for bearings, so why not? Thing about heating bearings for installation.. ya gotta get them on FAST 'cause soon as the shaft pulls the heat out of 'em, they shrink back down.