Idler pulleys squealing? Try this!
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 8,352
Likes: 103
From: In the pit, trying to love someone.
Idler pulleys squealing? Try this!
I stole this from Angel71RS on CamaroZ28.com....
I've worked with bearings a lot as a tech in industry, and have pulled a few middle of the night repairs on equipment with squealing bearings by popping seals off, stuffing them with grease, reinstalling them till a replacement could be found, just to get a machine back in production.
The bearings on LS1 idler pulleys have a rep for going bad. So while I changed the oil today, I thought I'd pop one off and see if it had removable seals. Sure did. With ~ 21k miles on my Z, I expected the grease inside to still be in decent shape.
WRONG! The bearing was completely dry, the (no doubt) cheap grease the maker of the bearing used had completely cooked off, was just a dark powder here and there in the bearing. A few spots on the seal still had bits of some uncooked light yellow grease:
The ***** and races themselves were still in good shape, no damage yet. So I decided to stuff them with a quality high pressure wheel bearing grease. On one side, the bearing cage is closed, if the 1st seal I removed was this side, I would just pop off the opposite side to get to the cage side with openings that could be packed with grease:
I used a fine tip flat blade screwdriver to carefully remove the seals, dig out as much as I could of the cooked grease and to pack the fresh grease into the bearings. After packing, I reinstalled the seals, making sure the inside and outside diameters fully seated in their grooves. Good to go, and only added about an hour to the oil change.
If your bearings aren't screaming yet, might be something to consider doing.
Of course you could just buy the 4 pulleys if/when they go bad, but that costs money... and can you be assured the replacement manufacturer used a top quality grease, or the cheapest stuff they could get by with? Like the company that supplied GM with the original bearings?
I've worked with bearings a lot as a tech in industry, and have pulled a few middle of the night repairs on equipment with squealing bearings by popping seals off, stuffing them with grease, reinstalling them till a replacement could be found, just to get a machine back in production.
The bearings on LS1 idler pulleys have a rep for going bad. So while I changed the oil today, I thought I'd pop one off and see if it had removable seals. Sure did. With ~ 21k miles on my Z, I expected the grease inside to still be in decent shape.
WRONG! The bearing was completely dry, the (no doubt) cheap grease the maker of the bearing used had completely cooked off, was just a dark powder here and there in the bearing. A few spots on the seal still had bits of some uncooked light yellow grease:
The ***** and races themselves were still in good shape, no damage yet. So I decided to stuff them with a quality high pressure wheel bearing grease. On one side, the bearing cage is closed, if the 1st seal I removed was this side, I would just pop off the opposite side to get to the cage side with openings that could be packed with grease:
I used a fine tip flat blade screwdriver to carefully remove the seals, dig out as much as I could of the cooked grease and to pack the fresh grease into the bearings. After packing, I reinstalled the seals, making sure the inside and outside diameters fully seated in their grooves. Good to go, and only added about an hour to the oil change.
If your bearings aren't screaming yet, might be something to consider doing.
Of course you could just buy the 4 pulleys if/when they go bad, but that costs money... and can you be assured the replacement manufacturer used a top quality grease, or the cheapest stuff they could get by with? Like the company that supplied GM with the original bearings?
An old timer told me that same trick about 25 years ago. I've done it many times with good results.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 21,325
Likes: 3,841
From: small town in S.E Pa. PA
St. Jude Donor '03-'04
Well the idea was good, but, you can't use wheel bearing grease on these bearings ( high pressure or not these bearings dont see pressure.).. first mistake. What They do need iusHigh speed and extreme high temp grease. Wheel bearings don't see 5000 rpms, and I guarantee one week from now that grease will be gone and all over your belt.
Second, all the bearings in both idlers and both tensioners require this service.
Just heads up
Bill aka ET
Second, all the bearings in both idlers and both tensioners require this service.
Just heads up
Bill aka ET
