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I was swapping my harm. balancer today on my LS3 and when I pulled the balancer off I noticed the attached seal sitting loose on the crank snout. It does not appear to be part of the front crank seal. Does anyone one know what this is? I am new to the LS platform, but man was it a bitch to get the steering rack out in order to access the balancer, so I definitely don't want to do it more than once.
Well I couldn't let it go.... for anyone who finds this useful
"The "seal" if I have been informed correctly is a diamond embedded anti rotation washer to stop/help stop the Corvette balancer from moving on the crank. It goes between the balancer and the spocket and bites into each. Seal is simply to keep the oil on the inside. (maybe someone on here knows better than that. certainly an odd explanation, but possibly quite true.) "
I thought that it was just to prevent oil leaking out the keyway of the balancer on the LS3 since it does not use a key. I use black silicone to fill the keyway too when installing the balancer
Hmm, well the stock balancer doesn't have a key way, so there would be no way for the oil to travel out. However, you raise a really good point with regards to aftermarket key'ed balancers. My thought would be that the sealant on the crank bolt should keep everything inside, but I like that idea, I think I'll also add a bit of RTV to mine as well.
Interesting...my crate LS3 didn’t have this when I pulled the balancer...according to part number above it’s described as an Anti-Rotational Friction Washer, the last 6.0 I pulled the balancer didn’t have one either, I wonder why?
Last edited by 01FormulaTA; Jan 31, 2019 at 03:01 PM.
Are you sure the crate engine you bought has the car balancer? As stated earlier, if it has the truck balancer (like the LS3 camaro) then it will not have the friction ring.
Are you sure the crate engine you bought has the car balancer? As stated earlier, if it has the truck balancer (like the LS3 camaro) then it will not have the friction ring.
I missed that part, and no my crate engine didn’t come with vette accessory spacing....didn’t realize it was unique to the vette balancer, what makes the vette balancer more likely to spin on the crank?
The Vette balancer presses on just like the truck/gen 5 and gen 4 F-body balancers. They all install the same. Only the accessory drive spacing is different
I missed that part, and no my crate engine didn’t come with vette accessory spacing....didn’t realize it was unique to the vette balancer, what makes the vette balancer more likely to spin on the crank?
Not really sure, the truck balancer sticks out off the snout a lot more, its possible that this additional leverage keeps it settled? Not sure. Regardless, it seems like an undisputed fact that this friction ring is only on the corvette balancer.
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Help identify this seal LS3 
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