All Right!

[Great Boob]

O.K. After 7 months and two unsuccessful repair attempts, my lil' red wagon is due out of the shop monday. This was the infamous "Flinging Dampner Syndrome" (harmonic balancer, worn I.D. / crank shaft end, as one member referred to it. The patient is a '79 300td which is of course non-turbo.

Repair 1 I tried a straight replacement with new balancer / pins / washers / bolt. Cost $200 parts, blood labor. Lasted a week.

Repair two was an unsuccesful, desparate and stupid attempt to mig weld the balancer back on. This don't work, so don't try this at home.

Repair 3 is a diesel shop in town. Based on advice from this forum, and the mechanic's experience, the existing dowel holes were redrilled, and two additional holes added. A process made much more difficult because the welding hardened the crank to about a million rockwell or something.

Cost is as yet unknown, but estimated to be 300-$400. A pittance to keep one of these beauties on the road!

I'll let anyone interested know how this turns out.