I am hoping to find an idler pulley set up to take the place of my Power Steering pump. I am using a manual R & P unit. I thought I could just get a shorter serpentine belt and simply bypass the P/S. Unfortunately, I am getting a lot of belt slip, and it might be since the serpentine belt is not dropping down low to where the P/S pump would normally be, it does not have the same amount of contact with the water pump pulley when it comes back up. So lots of slipping and squealing as a result. (The engine is an 89 5.0 in a 51 Ford truck.) THX
Idler pulley as substitute for Power Steering Pump ?
- Thread starter Bhenders
- Start date
Since your setup isn't in a Mustang, what else is your belt driving? I'm wondering if a water pump change and reroute would work for you. I run a serpentine style belt in my Cobra II that only drives a standard rotation pump and alternator. It's routed conventionally. The only other thing you'd need to do is come up with a way to ensure the belt is tight enough since serpentine belts need more tension to drive some accessories. In my case, it was the 3G alternator. I started with nothing but the alternator swap, a V belt kept slipping. I went with an aftermarket adjustable alternator bracket, got it snugged up, and the problem went away. Here's my setup for reference:
Finally got the Cobra put back together. I added what I had for antifreeze and it turns out I was short, so I'll need to pick up more. But I was able to fire it up for a couple minutes and there's no more belt issues.
I do have a concern though. The alternator is high enough now that it interferes with the upper radiator hose. I'll have to do some shopping and figure out if there's a molded hose that would work. If not, maybe a flex hose could be made to work?
Just checking in and now see your reply. Since you're running the AC, this could help as long as everything is in it's stock location.
