Idler Pulley - Tensioner Pulley?

[irloyal]

Hi Gang.
I stop in here once in a while for tech advice (usually lurking) and I need some help.
Are there TWO seperate parts between the Idler Pulley and The Tensioner Pulley?

I exploded a pulley last night on the way home, and while I have not taken a close look yet, I'm wondering if these are two separate parts I will need to replace.

I have a stock 94 Explorer Sport XLT with A/C and a manual transmission. Just turned over 200K on the vehicle.

I'm going to purchase the Balkamp OEM tensioner/pulley assembly that has been described in a thread elsewhere on here, but if I need to get another separate Idler pulley I'd like to get that at the same time. I already have a belt (although the old one survived ). I plan on giving the whole driven accesories a once over to see if the fan, alternator, or a/c compressor pulleys got tweaked. I'll also change the oil since I pegged the temp before I was able to pull over.

I appreciate all the sage advice that come from the forum!

irloyal

 

[Pollarican]

The Idler and Tensioner are indeed two separate parts. The Idler is a breeze to replace, the tensioner I have yet to do.

 

[Anime]

The idler pulley is a seperate, and much less expensive part. It probably would be a good idea to replace it as well since the idler/tensioner pulleys seem to be the parts that have bearings go bad.

Did the belt come off the pulleys when it exploded? I don't see how it would stay together if a pulley exploded, my thinking would be the belt would come off and the fan blade would continue to rotate until you had a shredded mess of belt and fan blade plastic all over the front of the engine.

 

[Maniak]

If it was just the pulley that went, then it was probably just the bearing that went. Both the idler pulley and the tensioner pulley have the same bearing inside.

When we rebuilt the motor a couple years ago I just picked up a pair of bearings from the bearing place in town. The old bearing had a # on it and they were able to cross it and give me the right ones.

To replace the bearings, I just knocked out the old ones, and pressed (read take it easy using a 3 lbs sledge) and put some indian gasket maker on the bearing before I pressed it in the pulley.

~Mark

 

[irloyal]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I'm going to pick up BOTH parts tonight on the way home. From the response I have from you guys, I probably exploded the idler pulley (closest to the alternator) and the tensioner is likely still in place since I didn't thrash the belt.