Every manufacturer makes a bad one from time to time. Your chances of getting another bad one from them are the same as your chances of getting a bad one from someone else.
Did anyone else read the Tom Lieb (Scat Crank) interview in Engine Builder where he talks about harmonic dampers and totally comes down on fluid dampers in general? He also has other things to say about dampers, it'd be interesting reading for some of you.
R.
I read what he said. I'd like to see the science he used to figure out what he said.
I've been using fluid dampers since about 1984ish and never had a failure. I kicked some rods out, but never broke a crank and I was using stock cranks.
EDIT: I just thought about it and it was 1988 when I bought my first Fluidamper. After a 20 minute talk with a moron from ATI I decided I wasn't buying anything from them.
Elastomer dampers have a relatively narrow range of effectiveness. When I called to order the ATI I gave him the bobweight and RPM I was shifting at and he said it didn't matter. So I asked him if the same damper works for a 1900 gram bobweight and shifting at 6800 or a 1685 gram bobweight shifting at 8500? He said it doesn't matter.
