Hey guys here's another story, I also wish I would have found this thread a couple of weeks ago, it would have saved me a couple of thousand bucks too.
Below is my time line of my 2004 Dodge Sprinter 3500 Harmonic balancer damage...... First of all I will say that I carry a generator atop of a small platform that I have built to go in the class 3 hitch on the rear of the van, I use this van and generator to run my business with on a daily basis, right now I am completely down. I will also say that I grew up in a service station, have been around cars my entire life and own 8 vehicles today, I have also never heard of a Harmonic Balancer falling off a automobile
• Jan, 5 2009, 7:00 am headed to Traverse City MI from Haslett MI (approx. 3 hr. drive)
• Approx. 1 hr. into the trip, just south of St.Louis MI I hear a loud noise under the hood.
• I look out the driver window to see something round about the size of a hubcap traveling down the road right next to me.
• I immediately pull over and go back to try to find it, I saw it veered off into the median.
• I found it... it was my Harmonic Balancer. The hub had completely broke from the balancer without any warning whatesoever.
• When I got back to the van I looked to see if the belt was ok. It was.
• As I got back in my van I noticed the "batt" light on, obviously the power steering, fan, alternator and water pump were all down as well.
• I drove to St. Louis but had to stop a couple of times along the way so the van would not overheat. Knowing the batt. would drain I also made sure to not use the fan, radio or headlights.
• After a couple of stops I made it to a service station and asked if they could weld? They said no but 8 miles away was a welding shop.
• So now I travel to the welding shop, stopping every couple of min along the way until my van would not start any longer.
• Lucky for me where it would not start there was a auto store down the street a block
• I walked there and purchased a battery charger ($52.00) and 25' extension cord. ($20.00)
• I put the battery charger under the hood (12 amp trickle charger) ran the cord thru the window and out the back of the van to my generator on the back, cranked up the generator and after only a couple of minutes I had battery again so I could continue my journey.
• When I got to the weld shop (Baxters Welding) Chuck (about 70 years old) could not believe my story, he as well as I had never heard of a harmonic balancer falling apart like this.
• He was kind enough to lend me wrenches big enough to remove the hub.
• Before welding it I took before and after pictures of the hub and balancer.
• He then welded both sides of the hub back onto the balancer and did a fine job, although I knew it would not be balanced I thought it would get me to my service call.
• Put it all back together, but could not torque the 27MM bolt too much, apparently you need a special jig to tighten it. There was also no locktite available. I did, however, use a heavy duty strap wrench to hold the balancer while I tightened it.
• After 2 hours of fixing I gave him $100 and was on my way again, it is now about 11:00 am.
• I drove another hour north to Houghton Lake and pulled in to fill up with diesel.
• Just before I shut down the van I heard yet another noise..... I shut the van off and then noticed the balancer is now sitting on the ground, the bolt and washer were sitting right next to it and the keyway was sheered off. Lucky for me it did not either time damage the radiator or any transmission lines when it came off.
• I knew this was not going to be a quick fix like the first time. I filled up and traveled to the nearest service station once again.
• I really needed to get to Traverse City that day to work for a customer that had been waiting now for almost 2 weeks for me to get there.
• I decided to call Hoekstra in Grand Rapids, this is where I purchased the van from.
• After talking to a parts and service guy I decided to just order the parts and have them shipped next day air to me in Houghton Lake. I was also surprised that they would have a "harmonic balancer" on the shelf... this told me that it was an apparent problem in the past.
• They asked for the last 9 digits of the VIN so I gave it to them and no other questions were asked.
• I received the parts the next day (Jan 6, ) at approx 12:45, being a rural area the UPS next day air was not guaranteed by a certain time.
• Once the parts arrived I proceeded to put a bunch of grease on the 1/2 moon key and packed the slot in the crank with grease as well, also put a nice film around the hub of the balancer so it would seal properly. The crank had absolutely no damage to it, the keyway was clean with no burs.
• As I slid the balancer on the crank I hear a ting noise................ the key had now fallen in the block behind the seal...
• My heart stopped, keep in mind this was all done laying in a parking lot on a blanket in about 20 degree weather.
• My first thought was to just have it towed home at this point, I will have to say in 27 years of driving I have never had to have a vehichle towed home.
• My next move was to break apart a earth magnet that I had a bunch of in my van, I used a small piece, JB Welded it to a 3MM allen wrench, put it in the crack where the 1/2 moon key had dropped, hoping that maybe it was lodged on the timing chain...
• After a few tries, as I pulled the allen wrench out I noticed now the magnet is gone.... Once again my heart stopped, knowing the key would drop to the bottom of the pan (hopefully) the magnet however... who knows where that would go..
• Ok now it's time to call in a wrecker to get me home.. It is now about 3PM.
• Two different towing companies quoted me about $450. I asked the guy (Steve) that owned the station where I was at who to use.. he said "give it to Phil, they are good guys" so I called Phil back, 45 min later the truck arrived, we got loaded and were on our way home.
• After about 10 min on the road the Driver (also Steve) called his boss and said this... "hey this thing is really heavy, I can only do about 60, it's gonna use up more fuel also..... no I aint doin any negotiating, I'll drop him off on the side of the road."
• He hung up the phone and looked at me and said "this is gonna be expensive for you... about $650" I said "well Phil quoted me $450.00 $3.50 per mile and a $45 hookup fee". He said "well he must of made a mistake then cause now it's more. I think he got the mileage wrong and this was a bigger van than he thought."
• NOPE I said he knew exactly what van it was because I described it in detail then I proceeded to fire up my laptop that has an air card to connect to the Internet with. "Google said the miles were about 123, so that would be $430.00 plus the $45 hookup, I'll pay you guys $500.00 and not a penny more or else you can drop me off right here." He agreed and we kept going.
• It was like it was all choreographed or something, are these guys shysters, once they get you on the hook what are most people going to do?? Just pay it? Not me!! I had already had enough of this trip and have not even got to Traverse City, which is where I needed to get to.
• Got home and unloaded at about 7:30, I also was able to fish out the magnet, it was right on the face of the crank when I got home.
• On Wednesday (Jan 7) I decided I was going to drop the oil pan and find the key so I could get my van going. I called the dealer (Hoekstra) once again to order another key in case I could not find the other one, this time the guy asked me what type of key I had because they make two different ones. I said "here is the VIN", he said that really does not matter, for some reason it always gives the same part number even though it may not be the right part", this is apparently how I got the wrong Key in the first place.
• I was not getting a good feeling about this now. If I had gotten the correct part in the first place I would have never even tried to replace it in a parking lot on the ground because you have to remove the timing chain plate (the front of the motor) and then the correct key is very long and goes under the timing gear as well as the harmonic balancer.
• Also I had talked to a technician and told him the whole story. He also never told me about the Key issue, although he had heard of at least 6 other vans with this same issue.
• The dealer said the only way they can try to get it warranted is to have the vehicle on their floor.. Two quotes later both about $350 to get it to Grand Rapids now... I decided to just rent a flatbed trailer and do it myself. ($60 plus time and fuel)
UPDATE ON THE DEALER AS OF 1/17/09... THEY HAVE AGREED TO PAY 1/2 OF THE LABOR ($500 EA.) TO REPLACE THE HB. THE CRANK LOOKS FINE, THE KEYWAY IS NOT CHEWED UP AT ALL AND HOPEFULLY NEXT WEEK I CAN PUT THIS ALL TO REST. I WAS ALSO TOLD THAT EVEN IF IT WERE UNDER 100K THAT WOULD NOT MATTER BECAUSE THAT PART IS ONLY WARRANTIED FOR 36K MILES.. I'M LIKE YOUR KIDDING ME, IS THIS NOT PART OF THE DRIVETRAIN??? WHAT A JOKE.. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME ON ANY ISSUE I HAVE SPOKE ABOUT HERE, IT WOULD BE NICE TO GET SOMETHING FOR ALL OF OUR PAIN AND SUFFERING.. PAUL
I ALSO HAVE PICTURES OF MY HB.. THE HUB STAYED ON THE CRANK AND ALL THE FINS JUST BROKE OFF, IT WAS ACTUALLY A PERFECT FIT TO HAVE IT WELDED BACK TOGETHER, TO BAD IT JUST WOULD NOT LAST TO GET ME HOME.