Failed 123 Diesel Harmonic Balancers

I just want to cmment on a subject I have thankfully not seen mentioned here in quite a while.

I remember last summer there was a rash of failed harmonic balancers on these forums. I now think I know what led to them.

I am now going back together with my daughter's engine and put on the balancer yesterday. There are two pins that key the balancer to the crankshaft. It is a challenge to get these notches to line up properly so that the buttons can go in place. I began by lining up the balancer with pins and drawing the balancer slowly onto the shaft. I backed off the bolt several times to see where it was. I can see where someone might just force everything together with these two parts not quite lining up properly. I finally began drawing the balancer on without the pins until I could get it in place so that the pins would then fit in place. I probably put the balancer on took it off with a puller ten times to get it lined up. I think this was worth the time to prevent the catastrophe of a failed balancer. I can see how if you messed up the balancer, you could easily be in a situation where you would have to change the crankshaft.

If there are any tricks that I'm not aware of in installing the balancer, I would love to hear them.

Have a great day,