balance shaft belt

well my troubles may seem to be getting worse. i took my oil filter housing off and had it repaired at a local welding shop. While i was in there today I noticed that the smaller balance shaft belt is missing in there. I talked with the previous owner and he said he left it out because it really doesnt make much difference. The truck has been running fine since i have owned it but i dont want future problems because of this. Any of your guys thoughts or experiences with this would be greatly appreciated. I fell in love with this truck. And have been working on it to make it my own.

The balance shafts are a bit of a bone of contention on Mitsubishi engines. Some say keep them or engine vibration will be unbearable. Others say delete them as they are a weak point in the engine and can cause all kinds of carnage when the belt and bearings fail in them. If it isn't making a difference in how the engine feels and you're not about to pull the engine out - leave it. There are kits available to delete both balance shafts. End result is better engine response, less load on the oil pump bearings and obsolescence of the secondary shaft belt which can break and find it's way into the main timing belt path (and pretty much destroying anything in it's path) Balance shaft deletion has been comprehensively covered on the site and is a relatively easy task if you're competent with tools.

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Originally Posted by geezer101

The balance shafts are a bit of a bone of contention on Mitsubishi engines. Some say keep them or engine vibration will be unbearable. Others say delete them as they are a weak point in the engine and can cause all kinds of carnage when the belt and bearings fail in them. If it isn't making a difference in how the engine feels and you're not about to pull the engine out - leave it. There are kits available to delete both balance shafts. End result is better engine response, less load on the oil pump bearings and obsolescence of the secondary shaft belt which can break and find it's way into the main timing belt path (and pretty much destroying anything in it's path) Balance shaft deletion has been comprehensively covered on the site and is a relatively easy task if you're competent with tools.

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i consider myself pretty competent around motors, new to these most of my exprience is with old ford and chevy motors, but have been reading quite abit on these since i bought it 5 months ago. Was just curious if it was truely going to make a difference at this point with just the belt missing for the balance shaft. i am comfortable leaving it alone and doing a proper deletion later when it is ready for a rebuild.

The small belt only runs the secondary balance shaft. You might be experiencing some weird harmonics at one or 2 rpm ranges but if you're not experiencing vibrations then it's no problem. The balance shafts weigh a fair bit so you can imagine the kind of parasitic loss of performance they cause in the engine.

totally makes sence. Not seeing anything weird at this point so I will runner the way she is until its time for a rebuild.
thanks for the help