Tension Pully...

I finally got tired of the embarrassing squeak coming from my Ranger. I narrowed down the squeak to the tension pulley. However, when I replaced the pulley, (not the assembly) the belt wants to slip to the edge of the new pulley and hang off about 1/8 of an inch. The only thing keeping the belt from slipping off is the grooved/guided pulley next to the tension pulley. So it makes a noise like the belt is hitting something, and I can see the belt skip a little. I ended up putting the old pulley back on for now since I didn’t think this new one would pan out so well for me.
Is this because of too much wear from the tension assembly? The belt is only a month old. Would a different belt help, or is it just the aftermarket pulley?

This is for a 98 3.0 with 96k miles on it. A/C and 4x4

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Check the directions that came with the pulley. Was a spacer left out.
Advance and Auto Zone sell complete a tensioner with pulley. Sometimes replacement pulleys are different and the dust cover has to be removed.

There was only the pulley that came, no directions or any other devices. I'm sure I will end up having to just replace the assembly, but thats what I wanted to avoid. It's not the easiest to get to. I cant even see where to remove the bolts holding it in.


JP

Is the bearing in the center of the pulley so it could be turned over so the belt would be in the center of the pulley.
I purchased one from Advanced and it came with instructions. You can always try another brand. Take your old pulley with you.

I bought my pulley from O'riley's. I will try one from Advanced and see if that makes a bit of a differance at all. Thanks for the advice guys.


JP

That did the trick. The surface of the pully was to rounded I am guessing. Auto Zone haad one much more similar to the stock one. Thanks for the help guys.

JP

Glad you got it taken care of. Replaced the idler pulley and tensioner pulley assembly on both of my Rangers. Had to use a knife to scrape some of the inside edge of the idler pulley to get it to clear the mounting bolt washer - it was concave. On one tensioner pulley assembly, had to file the sides of the "nub" that fits into a slot against the engine (keeps the assembly from rotating after install) - it was too big for the hole.

Our examples show importance of careful visual inspection before, during & after the repair.