So many harmonic balancers out there for sale today, which one?

[gomangoRT/SE]

There are harmonic balancers being sold by everyone.  Prices are from $29 to $300.  I understand the expensive balancers are made to withstand high RPMS without problems, but for your average everyday or weekend warrior who doesnt turn his moter over 5800 rpm is it justified to go out and spend alot of money on one.   I have seen alot of balancers in the $75 to $100 range, still when I take my rotating assembly to the machine shop I also take my stock balancer.

[Chryco Psycho]

I just used a realtively Cheap new balancer , it was made too short & will not pinch the timing chain crank gear , the washer on the crank bolt bottoms on the crank snout before fully seating the balancer , we had to  machine the washer to go over the front snout of the crank about .020 to get the balancer fully seated
 I wil get the make of it 

[Pistol Gripper]

I've seen ads for fluid dampers, are they worth it ?

P.G.

[fishn4cuda]

If you have your original, You could send it to a company called the "Dampner Doctor". They'll completely rebuild yours for about $90.

[Chryco Psycho]

the balancer I had problems with a is a Powerbond , possibly the same as the Pioneer one
 fluid dampers are worth the $$ as they have much less inertia to spin up & generally are high quality construction

[Autophile]

I just installed a Fluidamper over Christmas vacation. It is really nice quality, although I can't say that the engine feels any different... The reason why I upgraded my damper is that I have seen OEM style dampers fail previously on my 440. I think it was simply from the elastomer drying out from 30 years of use. Oh, and I bought a good installer/remover and a nice ARP bolt along with my Fluidamper. I wasn't going to tap this sucker with a hammer.. 

[matt63]

the balancer I had problems with a is a Powerbond , possibly the same as the Pioneer one
 fluid dampers are worth the $$ as they have much less inertia to spin up & generally are high quality construction

I bought one of these too.  I believe they are Australian made and are supposed to be better than some of the other "offshore" stuff and alot less than the ATIs.