Idler Pulley Adjustment

I've been having a problem where my idler pulley won't sit straight (it sits on an odd angle and I believe that is what is making the chirping sound from under my hood when I give her some gas going uphill).

It's a 2001 so the idler is also the belt tensioner. I believe this is where my problem comes in. Here's what I do:
I loosen the idler pulley as little as possible to allow it to move freely. Then adjust the tensioner bolt until my krikit II reads a bit less than 140 pounds, then tighten the idler pulley to the FSM spec of 35 ft-lbs. Recheck with belt tension gauge and it's basically spot on 140.

The problem is that the washer/spacer on the back of the idler pulley doesn't appear to sit flat against the bracket, I can actually see a gap looking from the top of the engine.

I have tried adjusting this probably 10 times or so and cannot get the pulley to sit flat.

Am I missing something here or am I still loosening the idler bolt too much? I'm a little weary of trying to adjust with the pulley any tighter because I've already snapped one tensioner bolt (didn't know to loosen the pulley) and was very lucky there was a late model XJ at the junkyard.

I would try loosening the belt tensioner bolt big time... snug the idler pulley bolt down till the gap closes... then adjust the belt tension, then torque down the idler.

I run my belt tension at 150... spec on a used belt is 140 to 160

Take it apart and inspect the washer that the bolt goes through to tighten the pulley to the bracket.

I bet you'll find it is grooved.

Flip it over if you can or replace it if it is.

Ok thank you both. I will mess around with it this weekend and try both of those things.

The washer may actually be chewed up. The first time I went to take off the belt the pulley was already loose (either from PO or bolt just backed itself off?) so it may have been spinning on an angle for some time now.