Harmonic balancer

I have been to a lot of Cat courses at Cats School and whenever the Damper came up bouncing it on the tire was the way he said to test it. The fluid in the cavity is not something that wears out, it only leaks if there is a crack, then the damper does not pass the bounce test. On the older ones with the rubber spacer and the timing marks it was not unusual for them to separate and come off I use to tell the drivers to keep the RPM below 1750, and bring it in when possible and we would order a new damper.

 

The "fluid" as you call it is not a fluid. It is silicone. It will harden and crack over time. Here is a vid that shows a damper cut open and you can show to Cat the next time you get a chance. The internal ring may still "bounce", but it may not absorb the torsional twisting of the crankshaft, because it does not rotate inside the damper housing as it is supposed to.

Scroll down the page and check out the video. Good demo of the internal of a damper.

http://www.pittsburghpower.com/prod...d=287&osCsid=4fa39687ad39d9c1c8b4982774b0b618

 

You can buy both items from Pittsburgh power.
I did for my N14 and frankly the added balancer didn't impress me that much. I wouldn't buy another balancer. If the engines vibrating that badly something else is wrong like motor mounts or whatever.......
I have a C15 acert that I recently replaced the dampner on, which was at 900k+, they make a nice product.

 

Pittsburgh Power damper is just a rebranded Vibratek.

 

Yep the very same brand. The Vibratek is thicker than the OEM Cat. The n14 is very similar to OEM Cummins.

 

You can't buy the Vibratec dampner directly from them. You can only purchase it through a distributor.