[johnnyd2723]

Happy Sunday all! I have a question on driving my broke 97 Limited back up to my local garage less than a mile away. Here's the story:

A few weeks ago I purchased a 97 Limited with 111k on the clock. Not knowing whether or not the timing/water pump had been changed I decided I would go ahead and do it. Made the appointment and the work was completed Friday, picked it up Saturday. Today I drove to the grocery store and back home and then up to fill her up. When I started it back up it made this gawd awful noise like the fan was hitting the shroud or something but more metal sounding. I babied her home (again less than a mile) to find that the fan was fine but the damper part of the crank pulley had separated/broke. I literally pulled it out with one finger. So now, obviously this needs replaced and I have to take it back up there, is it going to be ok to drive? What could happen? Thanks in advance!

[baja1]

but the bolt and washer are still in place?

[johnnyd2723]

Originally Posted by baja1

but the bolt and washer are still in place?

Yes, I cant see them but it feels like it

[TheFatGuy]

It appears that the metal piece where you can hold down the crankshaft separated from the pulley, you are going to have source a new damper, i dont recommend getting a used one.

[LittleCaesar]

NO. If it got you home, then find another means of transportation. I won't go into how much worse it can get.

I'd search Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market for a used one.

[thegipper]

Interesting.

When my 4R was still my brothers, this exact same damper broke off exactly like the OP. He tossed the ring in the back seat and its been about 15k miles later, still no damper on it. It is essentially a round weighted ring that is spot welded (i think) in place.

It is sitting on my bench in my garage as we speak.

Maybe I should replace it? At the same time, everything has been fine for about 15k miles. It did make removing the crank bolt a lot harder since there is less area for the bolts on the pulley holder tool to bite into. My guess is the torque of using the bolts in the pulley holder tool weakens the spot weld (or however the damper is held on) and it eventually comes off.

[thegipper]

Here's a thought, why not just use a couple bolts to secure the metal ring in the picture back onto the pulley. The bolts would be the same size that you would use if you were using a pulley holder tool.

What is the purpose of that metal ring? Is it just for using aiding in use the pulley holder tool or does it have some other purpose?

Or is this in insanely stupid idea?

[thegipper]

I did a search on a bunch of previous vehicles I owned and looked at their harmonic balancer pulley's and none except the 4R have this metal ring on the inside. Since it is a solid piece of metal spot welded to the pulley, I'm willing to bet that it is just used for aiding the pulley holder tool bolts.

The solid metal ring wouldn't do any "dampening", that is what the rubber in between the pulley's does.

I'm not saying don't replace it, I probably should but the harmonic balancer is expensive! My ring fell off several years ago and thousands of miles later with no ill effects that I know of. It did however make it much harder to secure the tool to the pulley without having that metal ring on the pulley.

[It Still Runs]

Hello All,

This is my first posting to the site and I was very excited to find this thread with the exact same issue I had yesterday with my 98 / 3.4 / 286K miles. Just like in the original posters message, I was moving my truck in the driveway when I suddenly heard a nasty sound like the fan was rubbing on something. I got under the hood and was looking at all of my pulleys and belts when I noticed the metal inner ring of the crankshaft pulley as seen in the original posters picture sitting half way out from the pulley haha. I attempted to pull it out with my finger and it dropped down onto the skid plate where I have yet to retrieve it from. After doing a bunch of reading and considering there is aftermarket light weight pulleys available, is it safe to assume that running the truck indefinitely without this heavy chuck of metal on the crankshaft pulley will have no I’ll effects on the engine? I don’t foresee any timing belt changes before the truck heads off to 4Runner heaven. Please help me out with any advice as I do not want to replace anything that I don’t need to as the frame is really starting to go.

[SaulG]

Most people wouldn't notice if it fell off...run it and if you happen to notice any new noise or harshness replace it.