Wobbly front pulley

[Tonefiend]

My 318 has a very wobbly, bent front pulley from the harmonic balancer forward.  I havre not noticed this until now however I have not had the car long.  Recently I changed the water pump and re tensioned the belts.  Before I take it apart for inspection, what usually goes bad there?  There is no oil leak, the engine is original to the car which has not been crashed.

[Moparal]

6 bolts  holds that pulley on. Plus a big 1 1/4 inch bolt in the center.  Someone may have done a timing chain job on it at one time and didnt get them seated well. You could even have a crack in the bottom pulley. If I were you, i'd be pulling the belts off, and checking the bottom pulley to see if it is loose, or the balancer is coming off the rubber, or the pulley having a crack or bent

[Tonefiend]

Thanks do I need a puller to take it off?  Could I have pulled it out of wack when I tensioned the belts?

[Moparal]

No puller to pull off the pulley.  1/2 inch socket and extention. I rather doubt you bent the pulley by adjusting the belt tention, unless you really went crazy with a prybar. To pull the balancer off you do need a puller. Its not an expensive tool either, as cheap as under 10 bucks

[73EStroker]

Word of caution - if your harmonic balancer is wobbly you run the risk of it flying apart at higher RPM if you do not address the issue.

[Aussie Challenger]

  Also if the harmonic balancer is loose you may need to check the crank snout to make sure that it is not damaged or tapered. 

[Tonefiend]

Word of caution - if your harmonic balancer is wobbly you run the risk of it flying apart at higher RPM if you do not address the issue.

Thanks I was driving it like this, but have parked it because I started thinking it might not be a good idea! 


Do you guys think it would be wise to buy an original used one off fleabay ahead of time?  I don't have a place to work on the car where I can tear it down and leave it.  Also I am swamped at work so my time is limited.  I will have a window of opprotunity of one day next week to work on it.   

[73EStroker]

I would buy a new one if you plan on keeping the smallblock. I do not trust this equipment as second hand bought.

[Tonefiend]

Took it apart today...   

The spring washer on the front was turned around backwards.  <Or it's a caved in flat washer>  The balancer was not tightened in all the way and it is not friction fit. Once I took the bolt off it came right off wwith hand pressure.  The crankshaft end was all chewed up and gouged on one side.  There were no burrs, just missing metal.  I snugged it down all the way and tightened everything back up.  This got rid of most of the wobble.   It is still not perfect, but not too noticable, and everythign is tight.  I do not think it is going anywhere as the balancer is now bottomed out and snug. 

I have come to the conclusion it was loose enough that when I replaced the water pump and tightened the belts I pulled it out of whack. 

I am thinking I could shim the pulley to take out the small amount of runout.  But I think I am going to leave it and keep a close eye on things.

Unless...  Anyone have an easy fix?   I have seen a sleeve for a harmonic balancer like the sleeves they put in the pinion seal on rear ends.  Would this work with my chewed up crankshaft end?  I would assume I would need some machining done on a new balancer.  I don't want to get too crazy with a 318. If I have to pull the motor and spend the money I'm going to put somehting in it to turn it into a muscle car.