Supercharger belt / ten, idler Pulley questions

[oogravyoo]

I have a 1999 GTP I purchased used little over a year ago and last week my Idler pulley broke off leaving me the bearing and a belt that flew off..

and my troubles begin.. head out to Murrays and buy a new Idler Pulley and do alittle fighting to get it on.. notice that the Tensioner Pulley is cracking down the center I go back out and purchase a new one of those.. the one they brought be was metal and I figured that they upgraded it.. upon further looking at these forums I see the nice image of the 3800 Series II and notice that that pulley is the other tensioner..

problem 1
does it really matter as they are the same size??? should I take it back and get the other?

problem 2
im using the same belt that came off as its in good shape no cracks ect.. however I cannot get it back on.. spent a few hours today trying and then a few more with my dad and we couldnt do it.. we verified belt size and that the pulleys are indeed the right size for stock.

is there some trick to getting this thing back on.. we routed it to make the tensioner the last and just have no give to get it over the pulley.. looks to be about a 1/2inch short.. How far should the tensioner move when its moved out of the way? wondering if mine isnt going far enough.. just at a loss as to why its not fitting..

thanks for any help you can shed on this issue..

I came across this post http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...ght=3.5+pulley and this person says the stock idler pully should be 3.0in.. the one from murrays was 3.5in..

in this image http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=653341 the Idler no.9 is shown to be larger than the tension pulley that is 3.0in..

am I missing somehting.. ?

[oogravyoo]

going off what was said in the link I provided above I went ahead and tried the 3in pulley on the Idler and was able to get the belt on.. was this a change somewhere along the lines? Murrays and Napa said that the stock pulley was 3.5in and that the belt size of 66in was correct.. there is no way to get that belt over with the 3.5in idler pulley and even if you could the tensioner would be totally bottomed out..

[BNaylor]

You have to take what the auto parts guys say with a grain of salt. The Tips & Maintenance post is after that other thread you referenced and should be correct as far as seeing the overall picture. I believe in the post you referenced the OP was referring to the 3.0 SC idler pulley to the far right so the discussion evolved around that. There are two idler pulleys and one tensioner pulley. The tensioner pulley for both serpentine and supercharger drive has always been 3.0".

[oogravyoo]

my sc idler pulley no.9 in the picture blew up and left nothing but the bearing, I bought this car used and honestly never looked at it so I could not tell you what was there prior.. upon going to Napa and Murrays both say that pulley is a 3.5in pulley(and from picture of the 3800 series II SC they are correct).. if I put that pulley on there is no chance in hell the stock belt 66" will fit.. I had to use another 3.0in pulley for the idler.. the Tensioner has never been in question..

with the link I provided I assumed he was talking about the no.9 Idler, I see many accounts of this piece failing..

[John Kanaly]

Make sure you are routing the belt the correct way, it will almost fit if not routed the way the factory wants it and makes you think the belt is too short

[oogravyoo]

Originally Posted by John Kanaly

Make sure you are routing the belt the correct way, it will almost fit if not routed the way the factory wants it and makes you think the belt is too short

its routed the right way, I have it on and running now.. just had to use the 3.0" idler..