When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Anyone else having issues where the A/C belt is coming off the tensioner? Three times in the last year my A/C belt has come off due to excessive belt whip and sliding off the backside pulley. I already replaced the tensioner last year. Today I got another tensioner and replaced the 4 rib pulley with a 6 rib back side pulley with same dimensions. I made a few hard pulls today and so far it's holding. I noticed when I pulled the old tensioner out the belt was riding towards the far side of the pulley. The belt is now centered on the new pulley now. Here is the part number of the new pulley made by Gates: 36322
I had the A/C belt jump off also (08 coupe) and replaced both the belt and tensioner and all was good. Three years later same thing, replaced tensioner and belt and again, all is good. I would recommend replacing both the belt and A/C tensioner because the belt could get stretched while jumping off the pulley. The only other causes are belt misalignment, damaged pulley or bad HB.
Last edited by Mike's LS3; May 25, 2019 at 11:31 AM.
I had the A/C belt jump off also (08 coupe) and replaced both the belt and tensioner and all was good. Three years later same thing, replaced tensioner and belt and again, all is good. I would recommend replacing both the belt and A/C tensioner because the belt could get stretched while jumping off the pulley. The only other causes are belt misalignment, damaged pulley or bad HB.
I had already replaced belt and tensioner before and belt continued to jump off due to hard pulls causing nasty belt whip. Made more hard pulls today without issue. You can see in the pic how close to the outer edge the belt was riding. You can also see the wider replacement pulley on the right. I replaced the balancer years ago with ATI Superdamper.
Figured I would update this post...The wider tensioner pulley worked for a while and during hard pulls the AC belt slipped off twice now damaging other idler pulleys in my setup. I decided to look for a smooth backside pulley with flange, but guess what? No one makes one for this setup. But they do make on with groves, so I bought one and removed the groves to make my own pulley. See pics. I'm going to install and post my results in here. If anyone wants the pulley part number, I can provide it. I had to purchase some hardware to make this work. Mounted pulley and started to remove groves with metal file. All groves removed. Mounted on AC tensioner.
Problem is the spring tension on the OEM is not strong enough to deal with the belt back lash from the Charger.
So instead, just upgrade to a manual belt tensioner instead. Not only will it solve the back lash problem of throwing belts, but will keep the belt from slipping on the super charger loads as well.
"Not Recommend for use on supercharged engines unless the supercharger has a dedicated drive" The AC belt has nothing to do with the main belt that drives the SC, so it should work for you unless I am reading it wrong?
Right, and I don’t have a dedicated drive set up and I don’t think OP does either, all the billet tensioners say this though, without the dedicated drive the ac belt runs on the balancer just like the blower belt
Right, and I don’t have a dedicated drive set up and I don’t think OP does either, all the billet tensioners say this though, without the dedicated drive the ac belt runs on the balancer just like the blower belt
Ok, gotcha! I accidentally deleted my post during edit LOL!
I would contact A&A Corvettes or ECS for suggestions.
Last edited by Mike's LS3; Apr 2, 2020 at 11:14 AM.
Ok, gotcha! I accidentally deleted my post during edit LOL!
I would contact A&A Corvettes or ECS for suggestions.
I believe A&A just uses the factory set up on guys without secondary or direct drives and it’s just a year or every two year consumable item 🤷🏻♂️ My shop was talking about getting a fabricator they know to make a custom tensioner but I wanna try an new OEM unit and new belt before I go that route
also the OP’s solution maybe a good course of action, it looks like it has potential
Does that tensioner work with the dedicated AC accessory drive? I feel dumb for saying this but the AC isnt part of the main accessory system.
If you have a secondary drive no it’s not part of the main pulley belt system but if you don’t the ac is connected to the back side of the harmonic balancer and then goes to the ac tensioner and being it’s auto spring loaded I believe guys like myself who are spinning the **** out of smaller blowers the tensioner just can’t handle it, or not for long at least.
I looked into that setup a while back and it wouldn't be able to replace the A/C tensioner setup as it is a single bolt mount. I thought about sending a stock tensioner to a machine shop to build a custom manual setup as a last resort
Originally Posted by Dano523
Problem is the spring tension on the OEM is not strong enough to deal with the belt back lash from the Charger.
So instead, just upgrade to a manual belt tensioner instead. Not only will it solve the back lash problem of throwing belts, but will keep the belt from slipping on the super charger loads as well.
I looked into that setup a while back and it wouldn't be able to replace the A/C tensioner setup as it is a single bolt mount. I thought about sending a stock tensioner to a machine shop to build a custom manual setup as a last resort
Also my last resort as well, how the new modifications hold on up so far?
Gentlemen, I am selling this aluminum pulley for $40 shipped in USA. This was off my C6 Z06. I had it on my car for like 1,000 miles before I realized my balancer was the real issue. It is for the AC pulley (4 groove in width) it is 65 mm in diameter (without the shoulders) and is smooth. Here are some photos. PM if interested.
Gentlemen, I am selling this aluminum pulley for $40 shipped in USA. This was off my C6 Z06. I had it on my car for like 1,000 miles before I realized my balancer was the real issue. It is for the AC pulley (4 groove in width) it is 65 mm in diameter (without the shoulders) and is smooth. Here are some photos. PM if interested.
A/C Tensioner
