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Pro tip: always check the harmonic balancer on older Cummins engines
Last week I was working on a 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 with the 5.9 Cummins. The owner said it had a weird vibration at highway speeds. At first I thought it was a u-joint or maybe a bad tire. But after I got it on the lift and started looking closer, I noticed the harmonic balancer had a little wobble. I pulled it off and sure enough the rubber ring was starting to separate. I put a new Dorman balancer on there and the vibration went away completely. The whole job took me about two hours and cost the guy $180 for the part. Has anyone else had those balancers fail on the 5.9s around 150k miles?
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xenagarcia29d ago
yeah those 5.9s love eating harmonic balancers right around 140-160k miles, it's almost like clockwork. i had a buddy who ignored the vibration for like 6 months and his balancer literally threw itself off the front of the engine on the interstate, took out his fan and shroud too. pretty sure that rubber just turns to dust after enough heat cycles and then you're chasing ghosts thinking it's a transmission problem or something. at least it's an easy diagnosis if you know what to look for, way cheaper than replacing driveline parts for no reason lol.
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uma68529d ago
pulled mine at 150k and the rubber was already starting to separate. replaced it with a Fluidampr and never had another issue, way smoother idle too. cheap insurance compared to the damage if one lets go.
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leo61228d ago
and then the engine just vibes itself to death for fun lol
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