Im working on a 97 ford ranger 2.3. Im replacing the Timing belt. While trying to remove the harmonic balancer i made the mistake of using a pry bar against the teeth on the back of the harmonic balancer. It made the balancer and the teeth on the back move in opposite directions. I used a press and separated the balancer and gear attached. I pressed them back together aligning the small dot with the key hole on the inside of balancer. The truck is not running very well at all so i think i got this gear in the wrong spot causing the crank sensor to malfunction. How do i align the gear up with the balancer to work right? Thank you.

 

If you changed the pitch or damaged the teeth in anyway, I would get a new harmonic balancer. You can also find a used one cheaper. The truck will run poorly and usually ping on acceleration with marked up teeth (very critical) even hard to see the damage.
Did you get it fixed already, as this is about a week later? Tom

 

I got it all lined up and put the old balancer back on. I do have a brand new one for Ford but didnt think it was necessary because there was no visible damage to the old one.

 

Hey i hate to revive an old thread but how did you figure out how to align the Hall effect teeth on the back of the balancer. is there a reference back there somewhere? i made the same mistake. this post prompted me to join these forums. SOMEONE FIGURED IT OUT! i have been a very involved member of the subaru online community and have completed efi university's efi 101 and 102 and advanced so i have some good insight, i'm just unfimiliar with fords. but if i can get this one running i get to keep it! then i will be a ford owner until it coughs up a piston and dies. because there is nothing better than a free truck. any advice is greatly appreciated!!! thanks guys!

 

I feel better knowing I'm not the only one... I lined up the dot on the gear to the center of the key way on the balancer and got it to crank once (just once). Now I could use some help too. The only difference is my ranger is a 95.