All internal combustion engines (with the possible exception of Wankel
rotaries, I'm not sure) have some type of damper/balancer
(interchangable terms).
If yours was bad, the engine would shimmy/shake quite a bit. Picture
your engine. Lots of things moving up & down, thus back and forth.
That's linear motion. A balancer helps keep rotational motion/inertia
in the engine. That's the "balancing" part.
In addition, every time an engine fires (and every time it goes under
compression), it puts a bit of torsional twists on the crankshaft. The
balancer helps keep that twist in check, much like a shock absorber.
That's the "dampening" part. It smoothes out the engine's balance
immensely. If you've ever seen an engine run without a balancer, it
looks like some kind of demon-possessed machine that's trying to jump
free of the vehicle, truly scary.
Most balancers consist of an inner and outer ring, with a rubber ring
holding them together (although some, such as those made by FluidDampr,
use a thick liquid as a binder). The rubber absorbs the shock, while
the heavy inner and outer steel rings provide the needed inertia
necessary for both balacing and dampening.
On most engines, the balancer is located at the front of the engine, on
the end of the crankshaft. The main pulley is usually bolted directly
onto it. It also usually has the timing mark on it, as it does on all
of our engines from 55-61.
-Dave
-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Waters [mailto:ronbo97@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 9:47 AM
To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] Savannah's Day Out, Part II
Here's a question from one of us engine-technology-challenged folks : Do
all
our late 50s Mopars have harmonic dampers or only some of them ? Is
this
the same thing as a harmonic balancer ? How would I know if mine was
bad ?
Where in the engine is this creature located ? And one more...do the
301/318/326 late 50s small V8s have one ?
Thanks in advance,
Ron
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