Tensioner pulley?

[ras50gt]

Ordered a new belt tensioner pulley from summit, got the goodyear one. The original stock one was making a lot of noise. Anyways, noticed the new one doesnt have the indentations like the stock one has where the belt goes between, will this matter?? Its just smooth all the way around.


How do you install? just remove the bolt and pully and install the new one? Need a puller or anything?

Thanks

 

[Darkwriter77]

Ordered a new belt tensioner pulley from summit, got the goodyear one. The original stock one was making a lot of noise. Anyways, noticed the new one doesnt have the indentations like the stock one has where the belt goes between, will this matter?? Its just smooth all the way around.


How do you install? just remove the bolt and pully and install the new one? Need a puller or anything?

Thanks

No special tool needed, just an 18mm socket (I think). Remember, the bolt is REVERSE thread, so it's OPPOSITE from the usual "righty tighty lefty loosy" thing.

 

[ras50gt]

I would have been sitting there saying "righty tighty, lefty loosey" lol

So, what about the new one being smooth? doesnt matter?

 

[Darkwriter77]

Shouldn't make a difference. The tensioner pulley rides on the back of the belt, so it's not like it has grooves or anything to hold it in place. In fact, the better tensioner pulleys I've found are the rounded metal ones with no side ridges, instead of those stupid cheap plastic ones with the outer ridges on the side (to supposedly keep the belt in alignment, which isn't necessary since the other accessory pullies already do that). Those plastic ones seem to use cheaper bearings, and I've had two of them fail where the bearing seizes up or starts to wear out and get hot enough to melt the inside of the pulley.

 

[mob]

It doesnt have to have grooves but I would make sure it has a lip on each end, if it doesnt just go to your local advance autoparts or autozone and get a new tensioner pulley, they will have the lip and will be cheap.

 

[ras50gt]

It does NOT have lips on it, thats what I was worried about....

 

[Darkwriter77]

It doesnt have to have grooves but I would make sure it has a lip on each end, if it doesnt just go to your local advance autoparts or autozone and get a new tensioner pulley, they will have the lip and will be cheap.

It does NOT have lips on it, thats what I was worried about....

Those "lips" are NOT necessary, I'm telling you. They're not a bad idea, of course, but those crappy plastic idler pulleys I was talking about are EXACTLY like the one pictured above. THEY SUCK. The smooth metal pulley, which is apparently what you have, will not only work well, but will probably last a LOT longer.

The belt isn't going to just jump right off the tensioner if it doesn't have those "lips" on the sides of it because it's not the tensioner's job to keep the belt in alignment - all it does is apply downward (or upward, depending on your setup) pressure upon the belt. Besides, if the belt was far enough out of alignment that those ridges on the sides of the pulley would actually be necessary, the belt would either get thrown off or start to shred itself on the other accessories before it ever gets to the tensioner, anyway. I have plenty of pics of the three belts my '84 ate up in short order because the water pump pulley was 1/8" out of alignment, if you need photographic evidence.

I've been running one of those smooth metal pulleys on my '89 for 2 years or so now without any problems whatsoever; the plastic crap pulleys have only lasted me about 6 months before the bearing takes a dump, and the contact surface of the pulley, itself, was starting to look like it was actually wearing down over time. The parts stores may or may not list more than one level of quality for replacement pulleys. They let me go back there and check all the ones they had in stock until I found one that was the right diameter and had the right center bore size - wasn't hard, as it's apparently a pretty common pulley size. I think I paid $19.99 for it at the time (plus tax). I guess I can dig through my mountain of receipts for the part number when I get home, if anyone wants it.

 

[LiquidGT]

I'm starting to recall how many returns I got on those plastic tensioner pulleys back when I worked at the parts store. People would get them for all makes and models and shortly thereafter they would come back in pieces.

 

[mob]

Yea, someone came in the other day and bought a dayco belt tensioner, he came back an hour later to return it, it had literally snapped in half, i was like . I never had a problem with my tensioner pulley I got but Its not the best quality stuff.

 

[ras50gt]

I got mine from summit, its a goodyear. Its all metal, I looked at kragen and theirs was plastic so I think this one will last. Was just worried about the lips not being there. I couldnt see spending 74 bucks for a fancy billet alum one and didnt need the entire tensioner assembly. Hopefully it works ok

 

[68keyblr]

Don't worry about the lips not being there, I run the 'lipless' variety on both of my foxes with no problems at all and have for years.

 

[LiquidGT]

Yeah dont worry about the lip, a lot of other cars idler and tensioner pulleys dont even have lips. It's the ribbed pulleys and the ribbed side of the belt that keep it from sliding off.

 

[ras50gt]

Just got home from work and heading out to replace the tensioner pulley. So, install is just remove the bolt,pop the old tensioner pulley off and put the new one on? Do I have to release the complete tensioner assembly first?

 

[ras50gt]

Well, got it on. The new one didnt come with a washer/spacer, so I used the one from the stock one, but then the pulley wasnt spinning.Anyways, took the washer out and it seems to work now. Anyone have that problem? shouldnt matter right? Hope I dont have problems

 

[Darkwriter77]

You might want to get a washer from the hardware store and pop it on there, just to be on the safe side. Not a lock washer, just a plain ol' flat one. Might take off the pulley and bring it in, just to be sure it fits.

I had the same problem when I replaced mine and wound up using a washer I had laying around from something else. Been awhile, though, so I can't remember exactly what size...