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?
