Misaligned Tensioner Pulley
11-29-2015, 01:47 PM
#1
6th Gear
Thread Starter
Misaligned Tensioner Pulley
Last week, the first wave of cold weather here in Texas brought back the old intermittent belt chirp (A/C belt). A quick squirt of belt dressing would usually quiet it down, but this time no such luck. On closer inspection using a work light, I noticed the pulley on the tensioner was misaligned with the A/C compressor and crankcase pulleys. The belt was riding on about the back 3/4 of the tensioner pulley. (I had disassembled the part before thinking to get a photo 
)
Once the tensioner assembly was removed, I noticed the center torsion spring back plate component had worn to the point of separating itself from the main body causing the misalignment. You can see how the hole is off center. The new design appears to have addressed this issue. The single mounting bolt was tight on removal and showed no sign of abnormal wear. This is the original tensioner with 83,000 miles of wear, so not sure if this is typical of these parts, but the misaligned pulley surface could lead to early belt failure.
Reinstalling the new tensioner part (Gates PN#38196) and belt was a challenge. All work was performed from the top. I found it was easier to manipulate the part with the pulley removed. There is a small detent finger on the backing plate that must align with the mount plate on the engine. The challenge is aligning the orientation at about two o'clock while probing the mounting bolt into the threaded hole; all with one hand! I also accessed the mounting bolt from the BOTTOM of the rack/pinion tube by using a 13mm deep socket attached to a 3" extension and swivel head ratchet. This helped in clearing the two PITA transmission lines. Total time on job about 1 hour, a busted knuckle and a couple of new cuss words!
I'm satisfied with the results and happy to report all looks and sounds good again.
) Once the tensioner assembly was removed, I noticed the center torsion spring back plate component had worn to the point of separating itself from the main body causing the misalignment. You can see how the hole is off center. The new design appears to have addressed this issue. The single mounting bolt was tight on removal and showed no sign of abnormal wear. This is the original tensioner with 83,000 miles of wear, so not sure if this is typical of these parts, but the misaligned pulley surface could lead to early belt failure.
Reinstalling the new tensioner part (Gates PN#38196) and belt was a challenge. All work was performed from the top. I found it was easier to manipulate the part with the pulley removed. There is a small detent finger on the backing plate that must align with the mount plate on the engine. The challenge is aligning the orientation at about two o'clock while probing the mounting bolt into the threaded hole; all with one hand! I also accessed the mounting bolt from the BOTTOM of the rack/pinion tube by using a 13mm deep socket attached to a 3" extension and swivel head ratchet. This helped in clearing the two PITA transmission lines. Total time on job about 1 hour, a busted knuckle and a couple of new cuss words!
I'm satisfied with the results and happy to report all looks and sounds good again.
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scharon71 (03-26-2016)
