Balance gears (?)

Okay, thanks

If you took them out leave them out.....without the tool to replace them they will shake the engine apart. Any time I open an engine I remove them before they remove themselves....
Heck...I've even broken them out with a cold chisel.... Did that to a 16hp about 5 years ago on a 160....still ran as smooth as before....the guy that bought it still has it.

Trouty56 wrote: If you took them out leave them out.....without the tool to replace them they will shake the engine apart. Any time I open an engine I remove them before they remove themselves....
Heck...I've even broken them out with a cold chisel.... Did that to a 16hp about 5 years ago on a 160....still ran as smooth as before....the guy that bought it still has it.

I agree with Bob, take them out and leave them out, you'll never know they were gone. Sometimes less equals more!

Okay, you've convinced me, I'll leave them out. What kind of tool would be needed to replace them? a snap ring is the only thing holding them in there. Seems to me that if they're put back as they came out and the ring replaced, and then aligned as they should be, all would be well. Only asking, this my first experience with balance gears. Thanks

It is an alignment tool....I guess you could do it with out it also....page 122 starts the procedure in the Kohler manual...best remember which one went where also....they could be different.

This subject is very interesting to me, thanks for all the good info. I am new to all this, and this is my first experience with balance gears. Being inexperienced, I want to learn all I can about these things. Thank you all for allowing me the use of your experience. I will definitely leave the gears out.

One more question please. It has been suggested to have the engine balanced, crank, rod and piston. No one in my area does that, most don't know what I'm talking about. This is not something I will do, but am very curious about the procedure. Can someone explain what is involved in this, and how it is done? As I said, I will not be doing this but would sure like to learn more about it. Thanks

Unless you're building a pulling engine a balance job isn't necessary. I've rebuilt many an engine and never had one balanced. Here's a link to Brian Miller's website, about 2/3 of the way down the page he describes the balancing procedure he offers LINK

Okay, so the crankshaft and fly wheel are spin balanced. I can see where that would be necessary for high RPM's. Thanks for the reference, I really appreciate it.

Engine balancing can become a very complicated subject very quickly if you don't know much about engines. It is even complicated to some who do. In your case we are dealing with what is happening at your center of gravity, or crankshaft bearings, what rotational force is going to do to that area, and what vibration is produced from that area due to the unbalance. The balance gears are compensating for the shake caused by these parts when truly these parts should be balanced themselves eliminating the need for the balance gears at all. There is a big weight (the piston) being slug up and down and that will produce an up and down force resulting in a vertical "shake". The crankshaft has weight also that would be counter balanced to eliminate this.


All engines are balanced to a point or they wouldn't last very long. As far as precision balancing goes, there are people who balance for longevity, some do it for performance, and some do it out of need. If you do balance it will always give you longevity, performance, an eliminate vibration period. The need comes in at higher RPM. Basically, too much weight on the end of something unbalanced at too high an RPM will always create more shear force and something will break. That will mean a lot of fancy parts, time, and effort down the tubes. I think the reason manufacturers don't precision balance is because if they did, with proper maintenance, an engine would last too long...


I tried to get this as simple as possible and hope I didn't get anything wrong in the breakdown.