Serpentine belt tensioner, 91 vs 96?

I realize I PROBABLY should already know this, but I don't :dunce: I'm not a huge fan of the way the tensioner bolt on my 91 is under the power steering pump, and from the feel of it when I just tried to adjust it, either I'm missing a bolt I need to loosen first, or it's about to snap. Seeing as my XJ is not really capable of moving very far/fast right now, and I have a move coming up soon, and the water pump in the MJ just crapped out, I really need to get to the bottom of this... so my question is, how easy is it to swap a 96 (and probably 95, not sure on the year split on this "feature") power steering pump + idler/tensioner pulley bracket onto a 91? Will I need to swap anything else (power steering pump?) What belt should I use? AAP's computer specs two different belts for the 91 and the 96 and I'm not sure if it's due to A/C compressor changes or P/S pump changes or tensioner changes.

I don't really like the design on the 96 either, but it seems better than the design on the 91. I can pick up the whole bracket and pulley setup for ten bucks at my local you-pull-it Monday morning, just wondering if I should pull the P/S pump as well or if there is anything else I'm forgetting.

I could not find anything very relevant when searching (searched for "belt tensioner") but if you know what to search for, that's also an answer I'd be happy with. I can search myself I just can't think of good terms to search for on this one :looney:

my 95 still has the bolt & pinch on the PS pump bracket. you are loosening the pinch bolt that clamps around the threads of the long bolt right?

HTH.

Yeah... the 91 is different from that. The 95 (if it's the same as the 96) has the bolt head on the top of the bracket over near the valve cover and thermostat housing, on the 91 it's underneath the power steering pump and points toward the block. I did loosen the bolt through the pulley, the tensioning bolt won't move and I'm quite afraid that if I crank on it any harder it'll torque off, this happened to me on my 96 (luckily once I had already bought a spare bracket+pulley.)

EDIT: aha! On the 91 it looks like I have to loosen the power steering pump mounting bolts (some of them at least) as well. I'll try that. Parts catalog diagrams rock.

its not the same as the 96, its the same as your 91.. which is why i mentioned it. you need to loosen the bolts in the back of the pump, the bolt at the top of the bracket, and the bolt that pinches the adjuster bolt, otherwise the adjustment bolt will not be able to move. take the airbox out it will make it easier to reach.

Thanks for clarifying that - apparently I can't read :dunce:

get it done? if not i can take pics of the offending pinch bolt tomorrow

Haven't actually started yet, just kicked it, looked at it, kicked it again and left it for another day. I've decided I'm going to do the radiator and replace that screw-in metal tube bit for the heater line at the same time since it's a rotbox and I have a spare radiator on hand, so I need to order that tube and wait for the stuff to come in.

Might replace the lower coolant hose while I'm at it... at 200k+ it owes me nothing and I'm not entirely sure it is not also leaking.

so i wasted all my technical expertise on nothing?. you SOB! i might not ever get those brain cells back!

let me know if you run into problems, i'll take pics if you can't figure it out.

I used my standard "buy all the parts and keep everything ready to fix it but don't actually do anything" method to fix the water pump... it mysteriously stopped leaking about a week ago and hasn't lost a drop since :huh: It was losing a gallon a day right when I started this thread.

However, now the power steering pump is making some real angry noises too, so since I have a '99 intake manifold I want to swap in and don't like the 95-down belt tensioner much, I'm probably going to hit the you-pull-it and get everything I need to install a '99 power steering pump and belt tensioner at the same time.

Would edit but I waited 15 minutes too long while researching... nix on the 99 intake idea, seems it has been known to decrease gas mileage while not improving power. Not worth my time, though I'll probably swap to the 96 style belt tensioner unless I find a way to put a YJ/TJ spring loaded tensioner on it. Seems I'd also probably end up swapping to the returnless fuel delivery system in the process.

Yes, I hate the screw tensioner that much. Having one break on you (albeit with a spare on hand) will do that.

Ken, if you are doing the '99 intake, I'm pretty sure you need the '99 steering pump and bracket.

Edit: I posted that without bothering to read your last post.

Mark - thanks for the heads up, I spent some time cross-referencing things to determine what I would need to swap. It appears that the water pump and inlet tube are the same all-years (as expected), the power steering pump changes over with the new tensioner style in 96 (as expected) and is the same till the end of the XJ, the power steering pump pressure hose changes in '97 with the new body style which makes me think it's body style or steering gear related since the pump is the same 96-01, the pulley and bracket and tensioner change in 96 and remain the same afterwards, and the intake manifold gasket changes in 99 with the intake. I believe the fuel injector rail has different injector spacing or something 99-up but I am not sure as I did my homework and discovered (end of page http://www.jpmagazine.com/techartic...iter_engine_myth_busting_true_lies/index.html) that the 99 intake doesn't improve things much before I finished cross referencing the fuel injector rail applications.

i've never broken one, i can't see how you could unless it was rusted solid you must be missing something. I think the main pain of it is turning the bolt forever to get the damn belt off, aside from that its relatively easy.

You're in socal... rust doesn't exist there

Around here we have it kinda rough. It was, in fact, rusted solid.

my jeep spent its whole life (until I bought it in 04) as an old lady's winter driver, never going further than 50 miles from the toledo plant where it was built. It had plenty of rust anywhere there was no paint or undercoating

GrimmJeeper said:

my jeep spent its whole life (until I bought it in 04) as an old lady's winter driver, never going further than 50 miles from the toledo plant where it was built. It had plenty of rust anywhere there was no paint or undercoating

Click to expand...

Strange, I would have thought you would have gotten it from "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena". :doh: