1996 Toyota Camry Crankshaft

Hi hbolanos. Welcome to the forum. Are you referring to the harmonic balancer / vibration damper on the end of the crankshaft? If so, two things can happen. The center bolt can work loose and allow the damper to wobble. Once the center hole is worn out, it will never tighten up properly and stay tight. I just replaced mine on my '88 Grand Caravan for this problem. Guess I can't complain. It's the first problem after 378,000 miles. Cost was five bucks for a used one from the salvage yard.

The rubber layer between the hub and outer ring can let go. This is common on Fords, but for other manufacturers this failure usually occurs when someone uses a jaw-type puller to remove the unit. The rubber ring isn't designed to allow pulling it off that way.

Caradiodoc

You'll have to look at the center of the unit to see if they made provisions for removal. Some require a special tool that you can borrow or rent from an auto parts store. It screws into the center of the damper, then a smaller bolt in the center of the tool is tightened to push against the end of the crankshaft. That will pull the damper off. Some have two or three threaded holes in the hub. A triangular puller is used with two or three bolts and again, there is a center bolt that pushes on the crankshaft.

When there is no removal method provided, you must try to squeeze a jaw-type puller into the openings so the jaws grab the hub, not the outer ring. Of course, if the old one is junk, you can use the puller to tear the ring off, the use it again to pull on the hub.

I've also seen people fashion a pair of plates to go behind the hub, then they welded on brackets so they could attach a nut and bolt in the center to push on the crankshaft.

Caradiodoc