Harmonic Damper Installation

A harmonic damper is a piece of treated steel and rubber that helps keep your engine balanced and vibration free. It is necessary to remove the damper for many projects, especially accessing the timing chain and camshaft. Once you are ready to reinstall your damper, you may find that it does not simply "slide back in." The damper is press-fitted to the crankshaft and must be reinstalled with care.

Instructions

1

Lightly coat using the your index finger the outer surface of the damper's "snout" with grease. The snout is the end of the damper that pokes out and will go into the motor. Since this is the part of the damper that will make contact with the rubber oil seal, the grease is needed to prevent the oil seal from being destroyed as the damper rotates with the crankshaft.

2

Slide the damper onto the crankshaft. On the damper, there is a slot on the inner surface of its snout. There is a woodruff key, or protruding metal rectangle, on the end of the crankshaft that the damper's slot must line up with. If you cannot see the key on the crankshaft, slide the damper on the end of the crankshaft and rotate the damper until you feel the key and slot line up. Push the damper on as far you can.

3

Determine if your damper bolt can reach the female threads of the crankshaft. If it can, screw the bolt in a few turns and proceed to the next step. Often, however, the damper will not slide on far enough for its bolt to reach the threads in the crank. If this happens, remove the damper from the crankshaft, clean the grease off its snout and put the damper in an oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. The heat will expand the damper, allowing you to push it on the crank farther with your hands. Reapply grease and handle the damper with leather gloves when sliding it down the crank again.

4

Tighten the bolt and washer down onto the damper with the appropriate-sized socket on a 1/2-inch drive ratchet or breaker bar. As you tighten the bolt, the damper will slide down the crankshaft and into place. Keep the car in gear with the parking brake on so as to keep the crankshaft from rotating instead of allowing the damper bolt to tighten. Since the damper is a press fit, the bolt will require some muscle to move. Should the crank continue to move, an impact driver may be needed to tighten the bolt.