Lost a pully

[Abom]

Hey everyone,

Ok, so it's cold, super cold. -34 celcius, which is around -30 F. I was on my way home from work, when I heard a screech under the hood, then a second later I lost power steering, alternator, and the water temp gauge started to creep up. Lucky for me, I was only about a block away from home. Got home, shut the engine off, popped the hood. Naturally, as I suspected, my drive belt was off the alternator. Ok, it probably broke, right ? Wrong, I pulled it out of the engine and it's perfectly fine (previous owner said he had replaced it, it's about 7 months old at the moment).

So I start peeking arund, maybe my alterantor pully broke off ? Anyways, here's what I found:

Now, I don't think the bolt broke. It doesn't feel sharred or anything, but I could be wrong of course.

My assumption is that something froze and prevented the pully from spinning freely. In turn, it spun the pully along with the bolt and untightened it.

Again, I could be completely wrong. The pully is the one directly under and to the right of the alternator.

Can someone tell me if that's the right length for the bolt ? It's so damn cold outside I can't really get in there and see if there's part of the bolt still in the hole.

If I'm right and the pully simply unspun, what does everyone recommend to prevent it from seizing up in the cold ? It turns freely just fine now that's it warm in the home.

 

[Ranger379]

kinda makes sense, if the bolt for frozen to the pulley somehow it it couldnt spin, it might unscrew it, but what way does the belt spin? does it spin left to loosen the bolt? u wouldnt think ice would hold that much pressuse, that belt spins pretty fast lol, maybe the bolt has been loose for a while and it just now coming out tho, who knows, im kinda interested to see what it turns out to be...

 

[Abom]

kinda makes sense, if the bolt for frozen to the pulley somehow it it couldnt spin, it might unscrew it, but what way does the belt spin? does it spin left to loosen the bolt? u wouldnt think ice would hold that much pressuse, that belt spins pretty fast lol, maybe the bolt has been loose for a while and it just now coming out tho, who knows, im kinda interested to see what it turns out to be...

I don't know which way it turns, lol. Now, come to think of it, something else I should mention, I've been hearing a high pitched whining-bearing-type sound for a few weeks now. Perhaps it was indeed loose and the extreme cold just made come off. Either way, the threads aren't really stripped or wrecked, so I'm skeptical to think that it broke.

 

[Ranger379]

could be, if its all right i would put it back on and see lol, if it comes off again the u found whats casuing the whineing noise lol

 

[Abom]

could be, if its all right i would put it back on and see lol, if it comes off again the u found whats casuing the whineing noise lol

Threadlocker comes to my mind if it looks OK to put back on

 

[Ranger379]

i would just throw it back on before anything else, it might spin right back off

 

[Abom]

Ok, so I played with the pully a little more. Seems like there's friction (bumpy) when you turn the bolt. Removed the bolt from the pully, and it seems like the sides of the bearing inside the pully are worn. There's even one spot where metal is "flaking" off. The bolt itself seems perfectly fine, which is good because I won't have to buy one (do you believe they sell the pully, without the freaking bolt ?!?).

Anyways, off to the parts store I go tomorrow to find a replacement.

Here's a question, the one they had at the only parts store that was open tonight was smaller than this one. And to boot, it was grooved, not smooth. We double checked that it was for a 1996 V6 4x4. I doubt the belt will fit on the smaller, grooved one, right ?

BTW, thanks a lot for the help Ranger, it is much appreciated !

 

[Ranger379]

do you believe they sell the pully, without the freaking bolt

haha ya i had to get the tensioner pulley for mine over the summer, 55 bucks and they coudnly even throw in a new bolt lol

Here's a question, the one they had at the only parts store that was open tonight was smaller than this one. And to boot, it was grooved, not smooth. We double checked that it was for a 1996 V6 4x4. I doubt the belt will fit on the smaller, grooved one, right ?

what pulley is it? idler pulley? it would have to be smooth then, and if its smaller then your belt would be too big, id go somewhere else and get the exact replacement, if all else fail ford garage would have one or order one, cost alot more tho lol


looks like this is what u need i believe

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?mfrcode=EVP&mfrpartnumber=1913&parttype=806&ptset=A

 

[Abom]

I assume it's idler. It's not attached to anything, just bolted to the front of the engine.

I thought about that too, but then couldn't you just adjust the tensioner to compensate ? I mean we're talking maybe an inch or inch 1/2 in difference in size. The grooves might be an issue though.

 

[Ranger379]

tensiorner might keep it tight, grooves tho i would say, i would just get the new one in the link i sent u, i would NOT get a grooved one, dont know if it would hurt, but i think its smooth for a reason lol

 

[Abom]

I think it's supposed to run on the backside (non grooved part of the belt), hence why it's smooth. Anywho, I found the part from RockAuto (the link you sent me is USA shipping only, I'm in Canada), so I could order from there if need be.

Tomorrow I'm going to check some part stores and see if someone else has it locally. Canadian Tire didn't know wtf they were selling, that sure wasn't the idler pully.

Worst comes to worst I'll get it online and have it shipped express, I do want my truck back in running order

 

[Abom]

Ranger, here's the pics of the pulley without the bolt in it. You can see how the bearing is stripped / f**ked up. It seems that the bolt is OK though. I sanded it a tiny bit to get the flakey bearing material off of it, so it's nice and smooth again.