Balance shaft question

[spawn7037]

Is it possible to leave the balance shaft in w/the gear and all and just not put the belt on? I ask this cause I'm not pulling the motor and I don't have the eliminator kit and don't have the time to get it.

 

[1992awdlaser]

DON'T DO IT. The balance shaft belt only runs one shaft. The other shaft is integrated into the oil pump and is driven by the timing belt. You can leave the front shaft in place and just not use the belt, but the rear shaft MUST be removed or it will remain operational.

Having one balance shaft turning without the other will increase the vibrations coming from the engine. Some people have gotten away with it without issues, others haven't. Personally, I would avoid doing that if at all possible.


I copy pasted this part from Dsmlink forums that goes into more deatil: "It's cheap, dirty and doable much like the chubby girl at the end of the night, but it's bad for a number of reasons just like the chubby. I'll explain...

The front balance shaft is belt driven, the rear shaft is integrated into the oil pump. Removing the belt only makes things vibrate, this does and will loosen up bolts. Many of those bolts are important. You can feel if a balance shaft belt is broken just by sitting in a car at idle, you can really tell about 3000 rpm. Those who say it's not that bad aren't quite right if you ask me.

Removing the rear shaft and replacing it with the stubby shaft or a turned down shaft is preferred. You can do this with the engine in the car. This frees up three things: some hp, some oil pressure is gained and you'll no longer live in fear of having that rear bearing back there seize up. Odds are when it seizes, it'll take out a rod bearing and other important stuff too.

Leaving the front shaft in is where alot of people live though. After removing the rear shaft, cutting the balance belt is tempting, very easy and you won't fight the vibration issue as much. It's still bad though, even worse. Cutting that belt for the front shaft gains you only two things: frees up some more hp and even less fear of catastrophic engine damage. No oil pressure is gained here; this is where it gets important and is why you shouldn't do it.

That front balance shaft has two bearing surfaces on it. The front bearing surface, by the sprocket, has a groove all the way around it constantly losing oil pressure. This bearing surface always has lost some pressure though, it is designed to flow that way and is accounted for by the DSM Gods.

It's the rear bearing surface that's got chubby chick all over it. It has an oil groove that is only cast into half of the bearing surface. If the balance shaft is always sitting so that the groove is up on the oil galley, you're constantly losing oil pressure on that galley. Your oil system was not designed for that to happen like that. It was designed to spin X times crank rpm and this allowed for a set oil pressure and flow drop at that point. Now the bad news is that your crank thrust bearing is fed from that very same oil galley. Now the bad news is that your crank thrust bearing is fed from that very same oil galley. Now the bad news is that your crank thrust bearing is fed from that very same oil galley. So it's 50/50 on whether leaving your front balance shaft in is gonna cost you a crankshaft or not at some point. Do ya feel lucky? 50/50 is probably about the same as whether or not your friends catch you with the chubby. You'll remember a crank and that chubby for a long time, if you know what I mean.

Do it right."

 

[hereitcomes]

^^ great post.
if you leave it in you will get so much vibration and the motor probably wont run right. The shafts are designed to keep the driveability of the engine, and steady engine movement.

 

[wret]

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/fre...roken-missing-removed-balance-shaft-belt.html