On the way to work yesterday morning i heard on odd knocking sound coming from the motor, i was about to pull over when it died and no power steering

. So after i pushed my pos 20 metres on a slight incline to get it off the road ( no bloody help from the 6' 4" jogger walking past) , i lifted the bonnet to find the harmonic balancer had decided to part ways with the crank and was hanging off the end only being held by the belts. Now this is the 3rd shagged balancer i've had in 3 years and this one was locktited and rattle gunned on

. No probs, get the wife to pick me up (not happy 6.50am 7 degree's), took her home and then drove her car to work

. so i call into LRA to get another bolt and they dont have any spares - bugger me thinks. Get home try to locate another one, luckily 4.4 uses same thread size and i have one in the shed, no probs get wife to drive me back to car. Easy job, fit new bolt, refit belts drive home , yeah right, except i dont have the large washer that clamps the balancer on @#$%^&* so i searched the car looking for a suitable washer i can use, getting dark now, then i happen to look at the shocks, hmm nice large thick washer, finally bolt it on tighten belts and drive home - no wonder my bloody legs and shoulders ache today - RANT OFF.
Saddle up tonto, its the not so loanrangie! . 98 TDI DISCO lightly modded with more to come.