Hi All,

I've been a member here for ages, but hadn't had an occasion to post.

While chasing down a front-of-engine squeak in my 2008 JK Unlimited Rubicon 3.8, after needlessly changing the water pump (and facing a broken mounting bolt) and the belt tensioner, I finally figured out it was, indeed, my harmonic balancer starting to come apart. After finally finding the right removal tool on Amazon, the three-jawed harmonic balancer puller (no threaded puller holes and the puller with no moving parts made to fit inside the spokes of the balancer was too big), one of the lobes the puller jaws promptly broke off, making a straight pull impossible.

The solution I'm left with appears to be cutting the thing off. There do not seem to be any YouTube videos showing this process. Does that sound like what I'll have to resort to and has anyone else done this?

My thoughts (with some collaboration from ChatGPT), are to use a rotary cutoff tool (probably my pneumatic die grinder and cutoff wheel) to cut off all three spokes to allow access to cut the hub of the balancer in line with the crank shaft close enough to the crank shaft to us a hard chisel to split it off, relieve the tension, and be able to slip it off. (using some backing to protect the timing cover.)

Does this sound like a sane approach? Luckily there is enough room to work without removing the radiator and fan.

Thanks for any info!
-Ken Brunell


Harmonic balancer with missing puller lobe.

Detail of broken harmonic balancer lobe.