Mark, I replaced the balancer chain in one of my 400 engines (a 1976 D3) last winter, and the chain was considerably stretched and caused a great amount of free play in the balancer system, and the balancer chain sprocket on the crankshaft had signs of wear. The sprockets on the counterweights looked good though.
Dave Marsden at Z-Power UK said that he had seen several stripped balancer chain sprockets during the years.
And as I see it, you have got three options. You can remove the balancer chain, but you should also get the crank, pistons and rod balanced. The only article I have read about the issue, said that without balancing these parts, the vibrations will be very heavy.
There is one that I know who has removed the balancer chain I his 440 engine, but it was done together with an increase of the cylinder bore. He balanced the crank, pistons and rods though, and he also fixed the balancer weights in their lower position to maintain a good oil feed to the crank bearings.
The second option, and I have been told that this has been done by a guy in Norway, is to get a sprocket of the right side, cut it in two and weld it on the crankshaft. This has to be done very precisely, and the old sprocket has to be removed first.
The third option will be to find a crankshaft that is in good shape.
And if anyone wonders, the crank is a one piece crank. And what complicates things a bit is that the camshaft sprocket and the balancer chain sprocket are welded to the crank, very close to each other.
This is the crank and the balancer weights:
Post edited by: ibsen22000, at: 2005/11/20 04:29