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Idler pulley

2K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  Praetorious 
#1 ·
Hey guys, hope everyone is doing good,i had a a question about a idler pulley on a 96 Bird,this is a car that i have been restoring for some time,things had been done to it in a previous ownership that well.....they were not up to par with my standards, anyhow I'm finally getting to the front of the motor,sourced quite a bit of proper goodies from the pull a part,awhile back i took everything of the front of the motor and i checked that idler pulley and of course its going south,bearings feel like a bunch of loose teeth,lol.

I am familiar with these pulleys and how they go bad and all that, my question is... why is the boss on the timing cover so short?? when you put the pulley on, there is a least a quarter of a inch needed to mate with the end of the pulley bearing, then we put a big ole bolt with a huge washer in front of that that's putting a load on the outside of the bearing itself,if you look at the back of a tensioner and how the pulley is secured to that, the bolt is the same size as the inner part of the bearing (makes perfect sense) so you are putting stress on that I.D and not on the whole bearing, am i missing something here? i have a brand new pulley,i just feel silly putting it right back on there so it can go by bye in a few months, anyone ever look into this??

Sounds like i need to design a spacer or something or is the problem with the pulley something much deeper beyond the realm of us mere mortals?
 
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#2 ·
Assuming your parts are original, the bolt/boss is designed to hold pressure on the inner bearing race, and prevent it from turning.

If the washer hits the outer race, it's a problem; post a pic.

The idler and the tensioner use the same part; to use it for the tensioner, you have to take the tensioner apart and replace the pulley.
 
#3 ·
Ill take some pictures tomorrow Grog, there could be a issue with the boss or something,i test fitted the pulley today and it goes in real nice but the boss does not reach the end of the inner race so if it doesn't reach it would be impossible for the bolt to apply any kind of pressure to the inner race and it would be putting all the pressure on the entire bearing,who knows, maybe i need to push it in harder,lol, i just figured that since this particular setup looks like it does it wouldn't last very long hence the bearing going out pulley problem,another issue could be maybe it has the wrong pulley but when i got the new one i specifically ordered one for my car and it matches the old one to a "T", thank you for your input
 
#4 ·
Just wanted to add, on the tensioner i was aware the use the same pulley however they have a complete different bolt (at least on this car) the bolt the tensioner has seems to me like the correct bolt, it doesn't have that big built in washer that my idler has, that huge built in washer is what bothers me.
 
#5 ·
Please use the edit button instead of double posting.


Did the pulley line up with the other pulleys and spin after you installed it?

If it's the same part, and it worked before, it should work now. :zdunno:

There's ~1/8" gap between the idler and the front cover, and the pulley should not move around, just spin.


Damn, this is literally the easiest thing to do on these cars...
 
#6 ·
Sorry about the double posting,I'm 50 years old and i have been working on cars since i was 10, sorry i gave you the impression i was a 17 year old kid,sorry about that,it just didn't look right to me thats why i asked,i will look at it tomorrow in more detail, thank you much for your help.
 
#8 · (Edited)
That sounds like a good possibility,thank you so much, yeah what i was trying to convey is that when i put my pulley in it doesn't mesh with the boss which it should (at least it has on every car Ive ever worked on) so i think you might be right, what has happened is that the previous owner did a lot of weird stuff to this car and Ive been trying to fix everything so I'm running into issues that are not "normal" per se even for a guy like me so i understand the frustration some people might have with me "whats wrong with this dude, doesn't he know how to install a pulley???" lol, i do guys, its a little deeper.

I guess the reason for my original post is because i hear people bitching about these idler pulleys all the time so i figured if they look anything like the way mine is set up then no wonder they go out,lol
 
#9 ·
Problem solved,car had the wrong bolt on the idler pulley,way too big ,my buddy has a 96 also and i bribed him to come over and his bolt is significantly smaller,so far what Ive found on this car is the following... DPFE sensor bolted to the firewall with drywall screws both hoses unplugged,coolant sensors inverted,vacuum lines completely inverted going to different places,wrong size bolts holding accessories on heads,hose under intake instead of tube with 8 or 9 clamps, wrong sparkplugs and insulation missing on coil pack wiring (bare wires) and the car was still running with all this so i guess i should be grateful,thanks again.
 
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