Serpentine Belt Fan Clutch Idler Water Pump Pulley

[trinappa]

How far back or forward on the Idler Pulley, Fan Clutch Pulley and water pump pulley is acceptable for the Serpentine Belt.,

1/8" inch from back of pulley?
All the way back at edge of pulley?
All the way forward on the pulley?

Theoritically the belt should be centered on all non groved (smooooooth) pulleys? yes?

 

[trinappa]

94XJ 4.0L 3"BDSLIFT 31s' 5SPEED 4DR SPORT

 

[Shorty]

mine used to ride on the back of the pulley. I always figured it was designed that way until I started to get that annoying chirping belt. I'd tighten it and it'd be quiet for a day or two and start chirping again. I finally changed the harmonic balancer, and now the belt is centered on the pulley and quiet.

I'd say it should be centered and if not, start looking for worn components that could affect it's placement.

 

[trinappa]

That's what I noticed today. I changed the Fan Clutch and Idler Pulley and did some work onthe Power Steering mounting area (changed all the slightly rounded bolts and adjustment slider and adjustment bolt) and after I put the new belt on it was riding back further on all the smooth pulleys.

So I undbolted everything and checked for flushness with the fan clutch pulley to make sure there wasn't some kind of stand off problem from remounting that pulley since I took it off and gave it a good cleaning - lots of dirt caked on on the back side.

So i guess it's either i didnt set the power steering back straight enough and the pulley there is slightly missaligned or its the Harmonic / Vibration dampner. Going to check it at sunrise for flushness across the face with a striaght edge like the formus say.

 

[trinappa]

I checked the HD with a striaght edge (framers square) and there is no gap between the HD edges and the Center Bolt (+ or - 1/16 to 1/32 of an inch) so Im scheduled for a visit to the Dealer Tuesday to see what they think's up.

 

[trinappa]

Got back from the dealer and their opinion is that the belt is allowed drift on the smooth pulleys from center.

As preventitive maintenance and since I had the extra money I replaced the HD and Power Steering Pulley (since the PS pulley had some minor rust and posed a cut hazzard to the belt)

I also had a discussion on the magnetic clutch/pulley of the AC. It had a 1/16 wobble to it and may or may not be contributing to the drift.

The Power steering pulley had a slight back tilt toward the driver and we straightened that out by tightening the back lower bolt of the power steering pump first, then tightening down the other adjusting bolts. This seemed to improve the belts water pump pulley ride back to center and straighten out the PS pump pulley back to vertical.

 

[trinappa]

P.S. the amount of verticle tilt from 90 degrees, toward the driver on the PS pulley was 1/16 of an inch more or less. It's almost vertical now.

Easy to tell if you stand on the driver side by the front wheel and look down the length of the radiator with one eye closed.

 

[joe_peters]

Is it riding better now?

 

[trinappa]

The jeep runs great it was runing great before that too.

The belt still travels toward the back of the fan clutch pulley, and tracks better overall, however I plan to replace the AC pulley that has the minor wobble to see if it moves the belt forward on the fan clutch pulley.

It travels centered on the water pump pulley now and rides to the far back of the idle pulley.

 

[trinappa]

Got a new A/C magnetic clutch pulley assembly and that seemed to put the serpentine belt back in line perfect. The old A/C pulley was wobbeling about 1/8 of an inch back to front. $198 from Mopar for the assembly. Looks cool too it all chrome except for the grooved pulley. They don't sell just the pulley anymore you have to by the whole magentic clutch/pulley assembly as a whole.

The belt is riding real sweet on all the non grooved pulleys now. just about perfect I'd say.

 

[trinappa]

btw the belt has been chirping for the first time ever. I have run mopar belts for 4 years. Early morning, (factory tension - Krikit II measured) slippage has contibuted to the clicking I am getting now I assume. Just bought a gates belt and it looks awesome very thick. I'm looking forward to putting it on. The current Mpoar belt is maybe 3 months old.

 

[trinappa]

Right- I live in Big Sky Montana, -30degress F fyi

 

[trinappa]

I just figure tension probably changes between say oh 30 degress F and -30 F - just a guess