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Sat Jul 17, 2004 10:03 pm

soooo I just got one of these pulleys. I'm really suprised at how heavy it is ! I knew it was heavy, but man it's ...real heavy !

I just wonder how many of you guys buy the idea that the weight offsets a lightend flywheel. I spoke with a guy that used to co-pilot Dave of Davesport rally 4wd car and he thought the added weight was BS.

frankly, I got the pully 'cause it looks like a BRM along with the alt. pully.

I actually won't be running it yet as my flywheel is stock atm. plus you can't see 'em anyway down in a 356 engine bay.

still, I'd like to hear opinions.

if your curious, I'd say the finish of these parts is not bad. but I'm a metal finisher, for the money, I'd say they ought to be mirror polished, then chromed. theres still machining lines visible. bolth pulleys need an extra 20 min. with a scotchbrite sanding disk, then a DA sander to 320 grit, then a buffer. the achorn lug nuts should be chrome or polished stainless.

Sun Jul 18, 2004 12:24 pm

the role that pulleys play on a motor was argued to death on the clf a few months ago... you might want to check the archives out there.

Sun Jul 18, 2004 12:39 pm

thanks, I did search "Berg Achiever" I'll search more terms

Tue Jul 20, 2004 10:06 am

From the Berg web page>

The Berg Achiever

"Why an all steel pulley when most people tell you that you want something lightweight? That is because most people simply do not know the truth about what is needed to provide greater engine life and spread their ignorance with hype and sales talk or maybe they want your engine to fail prematurely. Let's take a look at some good common sense.

First, the stock engine when never turned over 4400 RPM with its stock flywheel has little need for this device or our Equalizer pulley. They are unable to generate the conditions that this eliminates. In the early 60's, we started to lighten the flywheel and/or increase the performance and RPM range of the engines and either of these changes pounded the cases out. We then developed proper counterweighting techniques and it stopped this problem. For years, people have tried (unsuccessfully) to copy our exclusive procedures to do this. This completely cured that problem, however, as the power, RPM and acceleration rates increased more new problems were encountered.

We had completely cured the new problems with our race engine by installing our Equalizer pulley in the early 70's, however, did not realize it until my 138 HP bus showed the #1 main working in the case at the 135,000 mile inspection. Now, many would say, "So what, that engine obviously should show such wear at that mileage, especially with that HP and the use it had been subjected to." Personally, I felt it was a problem that should be addressed so I could go 200,000 plus miles without this, especially when no other signs of wear were there and I knew immediately what was causing the wear.

The light pulley allows the nodes (vibration like a guitar string) to travel up the crank from the pulley end to the flywheel end of the crankshaft. Naturally, the flywheel stops this node at that point transferring it into the case. By adding the extra weight to the pulley end with our heavy pulley it stops this from occurring, no longer being sent to the flywheel end.

Berg Achievers and Equalizers not only provided far longer case life but rod and main bearing life has been tripled on our race engines. We also found that less wrist pin wear was occurring and rings lasted longer. An extremely inexpensive investment that provides many benefits over any other pulley.

So why more than one weight? Another good question. I found that different acceleration rates and RPM’s required different weights and diameters of pulleys. Naturally, the all out race engine would use the original Berg power pulley size Equalizers. All stock VW engines with lightened flywheels and/or higher performance up to 6000 RPM, and engines that require full cooling must use the stock size pulleys. Engines that are turned over 6000 from time to time must have at least the Achiever and if often in the 5500 to 6500 our Equalizer would be extremely smart. If you have any doubts - get the Equalizer. We can assist you in the selection of our Achiever or Equalizer at the time you make your purchase. All Berg pulleys are dynamically balanced. Both use the stock pulley bolt/washer or our new GB 435S bolt and Belleville washers and come with copyrighted Berg instructions and NEW higher torque specifications.

Another factor is belt groove wear. Berg steel pulleys will provide up to 10 times longer life as compared to an aluminum pulley.

Stock Size Achiever

GB 439A Stock size Berg Achiever. Weighs about 3-1/2 pounds, groove cut for fan belt. Precision machined from 20' round bars of billet steel to provide the strongest most explosion proof pulley for a VW. This pulley has the Berg exclusive hard anodized bonded on degree ring with acid etched numbers. Electroplated with silver nickel color. Dynamically balanced. Originated by Gene Berg in 1986. Made in USA by Gene Berg Enterprises. SW 8#

Power Pulley Size Achiever

GB 441 Power pulley size Achiever, groove cut for fan belt. Dynamically balanced. SW 5#

The Berg "Equalizer"

This adding of weight is nothing new in automotive applications. Chevy, Ford, and many cars install a harmonic balancer dampner on the nose end of the crankshaft to absorb some of the engine's harmonic vibrations (nodes). We originally designed this for our drag race cars to have more weight on the pulley end of the crankshaft to help EQUALIZE weight on both ends of the crankshaft. It stopped crank twist and aided the drag race cars as they left the starting line harder. Originally, we felt that a fluid, spring (Fisher type), or viscous dampner would improve the VW engine even more, however, all of our tests proved that none of those types of devices did anything more than what the Berg Equalizer was already providing.

The Berg Equalizers are extremely popular for sand drag 2nd gear starts and dune running. Offered in two sizes for high performance street cars or engines turning over 6000 RPM. One piece, solid steel construction assures concentricity and strength. Silver nickel finish with our exclusive hard anodized degree ring. Originated by Gene Berg in 1983. Made in USA by Gene Berg Enterprises" -Gene Berg.

Tue Jul 20, 2004 9:24 pm

heh, thanks Bugzlife...I have read the site and catalogues and tech articles. I gurss I was looking to hear what peoples experience was.

danimal man I've been searching the samba forums, I didn't catch the 'clf'
duhhhh cal look forums you'd mentioned...will check there.

what I've seen here is positive, which is good as I've already spent my nickle (I wish !! )

thanks guys :)

Tue Jul 20, 2004 9:33 pm

Look at all the pics of engines on my site, you MIGHT find two that have them...

Wed Jul 21, 2004 11:26 am

crankey, i've run the lighter berg pulley for at least 120k miles on a couple of 2110's, it worked great for me.

what gene wrote about the equalizer was based on more real-world performance testing than anybody out here is capable of doing.

run it with confidence... the only problems i've heard of is that it kind of "welded" itself to a crank or two, but that also happens with stock factory pulleys in stock applications.

Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:21 pm

i have ran one in the past.
for me, it worked to an advantage that it helped push my car off the line. and at the time i still had a 15 lb flywheel on a rather big motor. (I tried both on and off on the same day to find out)
does it help in vibration control? i dont know.
My theory on it is it might work more like a Gyro and help keep the crank from chaning direction like in the case of being pushed around from a rod.
I dont think it was a very good test, but i had stopped running it to switched to a power pulley when i went alky so i could run the alternator. (torque i picked up from alky and compensated for lack of weight) what i found was i pounded out the center main more. It got to a point that i had a bearing that showed coper.

this is where things changed and become not so biased. I did put the heavy pully back on, BUT also went to a new case, and after that the center main looked good again. this was an 84mm crank on a vw journal.
what i cant be certine of, was my old case not supporting like it use to? was the new case that much better? did the heavy pulley truely solve or only help the problem?????????

Wed Jul 21, 2004 6:32 pm

Danimal, Muffler Mike,
thanks alot for your views and experience with the pulleys. some have told me heavy pulleys are rediculious, since I haven't owned one I can only read Bergs views and ask here. so far I'm glad I bought it and I'm looking forward to running it when the engine is ready.
:)

Wed Feb 26, 2025 12:13 pm

Bugzlife wrote: From the Berg web page>

Stock Size Achiever

GB 439A Stock size Berg Achiever. Weighs about 3-1/2 pounds, groove cut for fan belt. Precision machined from 20' round bars of billet steel to provide the strongest most explosion proof pulley for a VW. This pulley has the Berg exclusive hard anodized bonded on degree ring with acid etched numbers. Electroplated with silver nickel color. Dynamically balanced. Originated by Gene Berg in 1986. Made in USA by Gene Berg Enterprises. SW 8#

Just ordered one of these and the description has changed since '04. I wonder if they are still made in the USA. I hope the quality is still there. The EMPI one is terrible, practically wobbled on the crank it was so loose.

Description now:

GB 439A

Stock size Berg Achiever. Weighs about 3-1/4 pounds, groove cut for fan belt. Silver zinc or cadmium plated. Has Gene Berg degree ring bonded to it. Dynamically Balanced. 6-3/4" OD
Originated by Gene Berg in 1986. Cut for sand seal add $10.
SW #5

Wed Feb 26, 2025 12:56 pm

I think I need to order one of these from GB, if they have them in stock. Last I checked about 6 months ago they didn't.

Right now I have this one from SoCal Auto Parts, but the numbers come off too easily. Its otherwise pretty good so far:

https://socalautoparts.com/product/crankshaft-pulley-standard-dia-equalizer-black-w-white-numbers/

Ted

Wed Feb 26, 2025 5:03 pm

I plan on removing mine in the near future. Will probably sell it.

Thu Feb 27, 2025 6:01 am

The previous owner of my 71 SB built the 1776 engine that powers it. Among the many changes he made to the stock configuration, was using the Bene Berg Equalizer pulley. I can't speak to any "before and after" improvements, but it looks nice, even after 20 years. This engine is capable of some higher than normal RPM's, so maybe his choice of pulleys has something to do with that.

Thu Feb 27, 2025 8:06 am

I just got a 3.5lb empi achiever in my shop. It's a true 7 inches too. I could check fitment to the crank if I get around to it today.

Thu Feb 27, 2025 10:37 am

Put the calipers to the empi achiever and compared it to a CB 7 inch Santana I currently use, and they're identical on the hub dimensions fyi.

Sat Mar 01, 2025 10:22 am

Just FYI, if GB doesnt stock them C.B. Has a version
https://www.cbperformance.com/product-p/1910.htm

Mon Mar 03, 2025 12:18 pm

Got the GB pulley in and the fit is much tighter on the crank compared to the Empi. Oddly though, the finish on the Empi is better, I'm going to need to clean the GB pulley up, it is pretty dirty. Learned I like Zot's too...