So Im mostly done reinstalling my timing cover after replacing the gasket. But Im a little concerned with my harmonic balancer installation.

i used the removal tool wrong and ripped out some threads for the pulley. Thats fine, i bought a new one. However the felpro gasket kit i bought came with a harmonic balancer sleeve that i installed on the old balancer.

My question is: do i need to buy a new sleeve for the balancer to seat correctly in the seal i installed in the timing cover? I only thought of this when i was able to mostly press on the balancer by hand…

 

Sharing my cleaned and painted timing cover as a show of appreciation. (I painted the oil gasket mating surface by accident and had to sand it)

 

Good work

Yes you should replace the front Main seal as well, its not an expensive part($17-$24) and a pain to replace if it leaks, have to pull front cover again

Yes, they come in different sizes, with sleeve and without sleeve

The reason for the sleeve is that its way too expensive to pull out the crank and have it turned to remove any burs or blemishes on the journal where the Main seal rides
So you can install a thin sleeve over the crank to give the new main seal a, for sure, smooth surface to ride on and not leak

They have the same for Rear Main Seal

 

Thanks for the reply, I ended up taking your advice and buying a new sleeve for the harmonic balancer and it fit much better when installing this time around. Thanks again

 

However, If you are installing a new Harmonic Balancer, there is no need for the Seal/Sleeve kit. Just install the standard seal, it will work just fine. But on the rear main seal, the sleeve/seal could be used to prevent having the crankshaft ground to eliminate a seal groove.