chewing up serpentine belts

[dranger21]

like it says my truck keeps wearing out serpentine belts. I have to change them every month or two because the squealing gets so loud i cant take it. The $30 belts that often are also getting to me though. It seems they are wearing out slightly on the outside edge but i have checked all the pulleys and cannot find any rough spots or anything that i think would do that. I also replaced the idler pulley the first time thinking maybe that would help but it does not. Does anyone have a clue why they are wearing out like this?

Also it is a 99 with an auto tensionner if that helps anyone

 

[Angie]

I had the same problem with the idler pulley, it was'nt till i removed it and checked the bearing, for it was shot and running with bumpy feel to it. maybe one of the other pulleys might have a shot bearing?

 

[Jay FX4]

+1 on the pulleys....

 

[McCormack]

If the pulley bearings are OK then it's more than likely the tensioner pulley being out of alignment that is chewing up your belts. Put a straight edge on the tensioner pulley and compare it to the crank pulley to see if it is in fact is out of alignment.

 

[BIDNESS57]

I had the exact same problem, replaced tensioner pully. Turns out the tab on the pully bracket was sheared off and wouldn't allow the bracket and pully to align properly.
A mechnic friend of mine noticed this. he went to a junk yard for parts.
Hope this helps

 

[dranger21]

thanks all for the help..this is sort of what i expected but ill have to take a good look over all the pulleys.

 

[fourwheelford]

Stupid tensioner pully, mine is taking a hike on me. Can you change the stupid thing without taking of the fan? I noticed it while it was idling so I stethoscoped it and sure enough its the bearing, I've known about it since I did the timing chain but its nearing the end of its life I guess I can also see that it is not sitting flush because the belt is running near the edge.

 

[FordMan016]

try WD 40 on the pulley see if it stops

 

[Earl43P]

Stupid tensioner pully, mine is taking a hike on me. Can you change the stupid thing without taking of the fan? I noticed it while it was idling so I stethoscoped it and sure enough its the bearing, I've known about it since I did the timing chain but its nearing the end of its life I guess I can also see that it is not sitting flush because the belt is running near the edge.

Sure can, leave the fan on. I'm pretty sure the tensioner center bolt is an 8mm. It might be a torx or allen head, been a while. Use 1/4" drive socket, ratchet and ext. Very doable. 3/8" drive would work if it's all you have, but the variety and ease of the little tools make short work of it. My fan has never been off, but I've had the tensioner and idler pulleys off, regreased, replaced bearings on the metal pulleys, etc. 15mm for the pully bolts, IIRC. You can replace that 6203 bearing if you like (metal pully only). Napa carries a whole slew of them in various "grades".

 

[fourwheelford]

Ah much thanks, it was felt rough when I had it off when I was doing my timing chain but I hoped it would last longer than a month, oh well such is life I guess. BTW it is an 8mm bolt, reverse thread if im not mistaken. Thanks for the info guess I know what im doing tomarrow after work I spend more time under the hood of this truck than anything else but its worth it to keep it going strong.

 

[McCormack]

An easy way to get at the tensioner is to take the two bolts out of the fan shroud and pull the shroud towards the engine and then you can stick a ratchet and extension through the fan blades to loosen up the tensioner bolt.

 

[fourwheelford]

Well I got it done, what a P.I.T.A +1 for the shroud removal though, without that I never would have got it done. Also now I know why they changed the bolt to a torque head instead of the 8mm bolt, that little sucker is a bitch to get to with the fan in the way and I almost stripped it out The belt was almost impossible to get back on by myself also, thanks again for the tips

 

[McCormack]

Glad you got 'er done.

If your serp belt is really tight and hard to get on then check to see if your idler/tensioner pulleys are two different sizes - if one is larger than the other then replace the larger pulley with a smaller one and the belt will then fit properly.

 

[fourwheelford]

They were the same size it was just that I had to sit on top of the motor because I couldn't reach the damn thing then I had to fish my hand down past the fan and A/C pump, I gave up on that and put it over the ALT pulley so my shoulder wouldn't dislocate

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

I tried to change mine today......

After removing the old serp belt, I noticed it was a couple inches
longer than the new one. I thought I had been sold the wrong belt,
so I reinstalled the old one.

Do these puppies stretch that much???

The new belt is a Motorcraft JK6856AA, and appears to be the
correct belt......