Hi. Well, I'm in a bit of a pickle and help would be appreciated. 96 ranger 2.3 from up north. 249k on the clock. Water pump went. New t-belt at about 120k. Figured since it was open, change the belt. Yea. The harmonic balancer won't budge. I watched utube, read the forums. No luck. i can't risk breaking the original as i really need the truck soon and don't have time to mess around indefinately. So, while waiting for parts, I broke off the 2 water pipe bolts from the alum alt bracket. joy. Trip to the boneyard upcomming. Then i noticed that the cam sensor wiring seemed funny. 2 wires nearly melted together with what seems to be a shield wire that's non coated and half rotted. Add a cam sensor pigtail to the boneyard list. I think i can do the cam plug without much worry, but this harmonic balancer is driving me nuts. The t-belt is in poor shape and i hate to put this back together without it. Any ideas on doing this without ruining it?

 

Hi. i was just going to delete the post, but thought i'd post my own answer for the next frustrated guy.
First off, use a fairly heavy ball peen or hand sledge, vs a claw hammer. More bang for the buck.

Second, get a good bite of the balancer hub, vs the ring. i used a prybar with hefty screwdriver behind the crank sensor to keep a good constant pressure.
Be careful not to pry against the trigger wheel, as it looks pretty fragile. (pull out the crank sensor and shove 1/2" short ext into the hole to prevent deforming it.)
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Third, beat the crap out of the inner hub of the balancer. Go nuts. i hit the right, inner hub, swinging from the left. I also had both brackets off, and the radiator removed for best access to the balancer.

4th, keep an eye on the distance between the balancer and the crank sensor mount to determine progress. I saw no movement at first, but using a flashlight down the top right, i saw a widening gap between the balancer and the timing belt pulley. once i determined it was widening, i kept going. it took half an hour to beat the thing off. only one crack on the inner part of the outer balancer ring, due to prying from the pulley, vs the hub. do not pry from the pulley.

That's how I did it, and still have a serviceable balancer.