Balancing my Motor

ripmf666

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Sep 20, 2006
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Got my crank, rods, etc back yesterday...

Crank has two new heavy-metal (tungsten?) plugs, one on the first counterweight, one on the last. The machinist said, and I quote, "We had to use every piece of bobweight we owned, and then we were worried that the rods were long enough to handle those weights." "Thats one heavy SOB." Flywheel and balancer were not touched.

Rods were a pain from what I was told. Heaviest rod had a sizable amount of metal removed from the big end just to get it within range of the other seven (it was ~24g heavier for some reason). Seven rods had metal removed from the small ends, and six had metal removed from the large ends. In the end, all the rods came out to 1168g. Very nice.

Pistons werent touched. Didnt have to be. They were all within one gram of 1272. Again, very nice.

If you run different rods, dont mess around, get the crank balanced.


So I ask again, does anyone know GM's range of acceptability when it comes to OEM balance weight? Are they ok with a rotating assy being off 15-20+ grams across the entire crank? Could be a reason some cranks break while others dont.


The crank those rods came off of is still running great. They have seen 4800+ before without missing a beat lol.
 

TheBac

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The crank those rods came off of is still running great. They have seen 4800+ before without missing a beat lol.

WHAT saw 4800+? The crank, or the rods I now own?
Now you've got me all paranoid. I did not know their full history and took them at face value. :mad:
 
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ripmf666

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WHAT saw 4800+? The crank, or the rods I now own?
Now you've got me all paranoid. I did not know their full history and took them at face value. :mad:


The rods are out of my motor so if they were out of balance by what you said they were I guess i'm lucky my crank is still doing fine. You know how I ran my motor before but those rods were checked before they were sold to make sure they were not short or the ends were out of round.
 

TrentNell

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Got my crank, rods, etc back yesterday...

Crank has two new heavy-metal (tungsten?) plugs, one on the first counterweight, one on the last. The machinist said, and I quote, "We had to use every piece of bobweight we owned, and then we were worried that the rods were long enough to handle those weights." "Thats one heavy SOB." Flywheel and balancer were not touched.

Rods were a pain from what I was told. Heaviest rod had a sizable amount of metal removed from the big end just to get it within range of the other seven (it was ~24g heavier for some reason). Seven rods had metal removed from the small ends, and six had metal removed from the large ends. In the end, all the rods came out to 1168g. Very nice.

Pistons werent touched. Didnt have to be. They were all within one gram of 1272. Again, very nice.

If you run different rods, dont mess around, get the crank balanced.


So I ask again, does anyone know GM's range of acceptability when it comes to OEM balance weight? Are they ok with a rotating assy being off 15-20+ grams across the entire crank? Could be a reason some cranks break while others dont.

Tom, one of the things that made me not worry so much about "balancing" was how far out my stock motor was , and after i weighed my piston rod assembly's after putting the Howard X-beam rods on they were far closer than the stock rotating assembly ever was , so i figured i was better than i had ever been before :rofl: , another surprising thing is to measure piston length from one piston to the next , and several other things as well . Its still worth balancing def , but i dont think it is the "science" alot of guys do , maybe i am wrong i guess time will tell . ..........
 

TheBac

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Trent, have you ever seriously thought that you "got lucky" before?

Id be willing to bet that allowable weight differential between rods/pistons is relative to the actual amount of weight of the entire assembly. 20g between lighter pistons/rods is probably a far more crucial ratio than between heavier Dmax parts. Shoot, we're slinging over 5.5lbs on every throw. :eek:

For comparison, I weighed a 302Boss Ford piston/rod assy that I have on my "wall of shame". That motor saw 6500+rpm a couple of times. Second time a valve let go and destroyed the engine. That assy is all I have left. Funny how gasser parts look like toys compared to diesel parts.

Anyway, with rings and bearings intact, the assy weighs 1300g total. Also, the height of the assy is less than the length of our rods alone.
If those rods/pistons were 20g off, the % of the actual weight is greater than the % would be for a 2500g setup like on a Dmax, and would have thrown the balance much farther off than on our motors. I guess if you dont want to balance a crank, fine. I didnt want to take the risk, and relative to parts cost, $225 was a good investment.

I kinda wish Russ would have told me the rods came out of Henry's blown motor. I wouldnt have bought them knowing their history. Guess the bright side is they have been "tested" before. :rolleyes: So have your laugh Henry.
 

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Stingpuller

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Jan 11, 2007
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Balance

Tom, I'm sure you will be fine with your rod's. I don't think Henry could have hurt them any. I also think you are ahead of the game to balance your motor. It's all in the little details that make a differance. It also sounds like you had a good machine shop that takes a little pride in there work. Trent needs to get his out a little more then we will see how it does long term. I parked my good motor for a little bit and put a stock motor back in mine to have a little fun again. Hope to see everyone at the track again soon. Jeff
 
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TrentNell

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Trent, have you ever seriously thought that you "got lucky" before?

Id be willing to bet that allowable weight differential between rods/pistons is relative to the actual amount of weight of the entire assembly. 20g between lighter pistons/rods is probably a far more crucial ratio than between heavier Dmax parts. Shoot, we're slinging over 5.5lbs on every throw. :eek:

For comparison, I weighed a 302Boss Ford piston/rod assy that I have on my "wall of shame". That motor saw 6500+rpm a couple of times. Second time a valve let go and destroyed the engine. That assy is all I have left. Funny how gasser parts look like toys compared to diesel parts.

Anyway, with rings and bearings intact, the assy weighs 1300g total. Also, the height of the assy is less than the length of our rods alone.
If those rods/pistons were 20g off, the % of the actual weight is greater than the % would be for a 2500g setup like on a Dmax, and would have thrown the balance much farther off than on our motors. I guess if you dont want to balance a crank, fine. I didnt want to take the risk, and relative to parts cost, $225 was a good investment.

I kinda wish Russ would have told me the rods came out of Henry's blown motor. I wouldnt have bought them knowing their history. Guess the bright side is they have been "tested" before. :rolleyes: So have your laugh Henry.

I have def considered that , but i know how smooth the motor feels , and am shifting at about 3900-4250 rpm depending on the shift , so if it is going to break it shouldn't take long , nor am i saying it wont break , and def not telling guys to skip the balance there motors, my next one will def be , just saying i think there is more room for error than most believe.
 
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ripmf666

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I kinda wish Russ would have told me the rods came out of Henry's blown motor. I wouldnt have bought them knowing their history. Guess the bright side is they have been "tested" before. :rolleyes: So have your laugh Henry.


I thought you got the Rods from Vasile or traded your setup for his.
And why would you think I would get a laugh out of it Tom I guess you really have issues with me but screw it.
 
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Rhall

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Aug 12, 2006
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Trent, have you ever seriously thought that you "got lucky" before?

Id be willing to bet that allowable weight differential between rods/pistons is relative to the actual amount of weight of the entire assembly. 20g between lighter pistons/rods is probably a far more crucial ratio than between heavier Dmax parts. Shoot, we're slinging over 5.5lbs on every throw. :eek:

For comparison, I weighed a 302Boss Ford piston/rod assy that I have on my "wall of shame". That motor saw 6500+rpm a couple of times. Second time a valve let go and destroyed the engine. That assy is all I have left. Funny how gasser parts look like toys compared to diesel parts.

Anyway, with rings and bearings intact, the assy weighs 1300g total. Also, the height of the assy is less than the length of our rods alone.
If those rods/pistons were 20g off, the % of the actual weight is greater than the % would be for a 2500g setup like on a Dmax, and would have thrown the balance much farther off than on our motors. I guess if you dont want to balance a crank, fine. I didnt want to take the risk, and relative to parts cost, $225 was a good investment.

I kinda wish Russ would have told me the rods came out of Henry's blown motor. I wouldnt have bought them knowing their history. Guess the bright side is they have been "tested" before. :rolleyes: So have your laugh Henry.


If you have issues with those rods, its not cause who owned them before, its cause there stock.
 

TheBac

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Rob, it'd be nice to have a new money tree.....just not gonna happen. It'll all work out.

I know Im going "against the grain" here and its not welcome. I got it.
 

JOHNBOY

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Rob, it'd be nice to have a new money tree.....just not gonna happen. It'll all work out.

I know Im going "against the grain" here and its not welcome. I got it.
No grain. Your just against it. We all are.;)
Going through all this to install heavier stock parts will not save you money.

That said.

Good balance is important. it is one of those fine details that helps improve the overall package. That said I am guessing you used an LB7/LLY crank with those rods. That is why the balance was so far off. The LBZ stuff is heavier. Your best to switch it all over.

Speaking of money trees how did that balance cost?
My balance was not of much at all. Needed to take 12 grams off the crank and some (I cant remember how much) off the flywheel.
 

LBZ

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No grain. Your just against it. We all are.;)
Going through all this to install heavier stock parts will not save you money.

That said.

Good balance is important. it is one of those fine details that helps improve the overall package. That said I am guessing you used an LB7/LLY crank with those rods. That is why the balance was so far off. The LBZ stuff is heavier. Your best to switch it all over.........

I agree. I would have ran a complete LBZ bottom end if were wanting to run LBZ rods in a LB7/LLY block. But cranks are hard to find and not cheap so I understand why you didn't. I looked and couldn't find one anywhere. Ended up buying a shortblock.

Hope it works out for ya!:thumb: Like Rhall said, if it fails it likely won't be because of how it was run before you got it, but from the fact it's OEM stuff. Be sure to check piston protrusion before you bolt the heads on! And record it!;)
 
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ripmf666

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If you have issues with those rods, its not cause who owned them before, its cause there stock.

No Rob he has issues with me that I thought he got over months ago. But now he sent me a pm acting like it's the first time telling me about how he was let in the back door of the mod area and that I was talking bad about him. If joking about how many post someone reports on here and the diesel gararge is talking nasty and hating some ones guts I must of missed something . But since Tom likes making his pokes out in the public to me only and he kisses as s in the threads of the people he said talked crap on him also but does not poke at them that's ok screw him.
 
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duramaxdiesel

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Oct 23, 2008
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Wow this went south pretty fast. I can see what some mean by doing all this work for heavier stock OEM rods. It took me 7 months to save for this stuff. Yeah it was long but I think it'll be worth it. Tom, you are allowed to take whatever route you like. I almost went the same way but was quickly convinced not to. I do think balancing will help you out some. What you said earlier about all that rotating mass flying around made a lot of sense.

Nick
 

TheBac

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Wow this went south pretty fast. I can see what some mean by doing all this work for heavier stock OEM rods. It took me 7 months to save for this stuff. Yeah it was long but I think it'll be worth it. Tom, you are allowed to take whatever route you like. I almost went the same way but was quickly convinced not to. I do think balancing will help you out some. What you said earlier about all that rotating mass flying around made a lot of sense.

Nick


Yeah Nick, sorry about that. Henry and I dont get along anymore and its spilling out into public. A person cant get along with everyone.
Yes, Im going my own way on the engine.


John, $225. $175 for the balance, $25/pc for the slugs. I had an LB7 crank, so thats what got used. That doesnt explain the rods being so far off within the set, but no bother, they're fixed now.

LBZ, yes, its a risk. I dont want/need/envision 700rwhp. All I want is 590. If it blows up, it blows up..but at least I gave it a shot. Nobody would appreciate the laughing if it were them.
 
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ripmf666

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Yeah Nick, sorry about that. Henry and I dont get along anymore and its spilling out into public. A person cant get along with everyone.
Yes, Im going my own way on the engine.


You should treat the others that you think hate your guts the same as your treating me. Or do you think i'm the easier target with your little jabs and crap. In the pm months ago you said there was many that hated you so much I have looked at all the threads I made post in and love to know what I said was that bad other then making jokes about you reporting posts left and right here and at the diesel garage. You save everything like I do myself so let me see what I said to hurt you so damn much to get treated this way.
 

TheBac

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Henry, quit screwing with this thread. Its nobody else's business, so take it to PM like you tell everyone else to.
 

LBZ

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LBZ, yes, its a risk. I dont want/need/envision 700rwhp. All I want is 590. If it blows up, it blows up..but at least I gave it a shot. Nobody would appreciate the laughing if it were them.

It's all good. To be honest if someone doesn't plan to hot rod, then I think using used LBZ rods is a good economical way to go-considering the price of new LMM/LBZ's are almost the same as Crowers and the like!!:eek:

Either way best of luck with your build!:thumb:
 

dirty_max

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Do you guys think that just a stock rebuild would require me to get the lower end balanced? I ask because i rebuild diesel engines at work all the time without ever having anything balanced and havent had a failure. Im fixing to do a stock rebuild on an lb7 so im curious
 

TheBac

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Why wouldn't you while the engine's apart?
To me, its money well spent.

There are times I wish I could go back and delete some of my old posts. Cripes.
 
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