the belt on my truck keeps walking foward and rubbing on the arm of the testioner pully. i put a new belt on thinking mabey the old one was streched out. but that didnt help at all. does any one is if a belt for a truck without ac with will on a truck with ac but just not going around the air condenser? i think that might be my problem

 

Take a good look at the tensioner pulley and make sure that it is still in line with the other pulleys and not cocked off to one side or the other, this will make your belt walk. As far as the belt I don't know for sure but I would venture to say no. Go out and get the correct belt and like I said take a good look at the tensioner pulley.

Hope this helps Ryan

 

yea that was my first guess. i cheak it out thinking the the bearings or some thing was bad and that was why it was walking but it seems to be alright i cant get it to move any. i have the right belt on it and it didnt help at all i dont see how any thing could move making the belt walk like this. my air doesnt work any way thats why i was looking to bypass the ac comp. thought mabey the belt would be short enough to do this.

 

I would bet its the tensioner. My old man had the same problem and it was the tensioner. Everything looked ok and didnt move but it was worn at the base of the assembly, not the pulley.

 

yea i think your right. i was thinking that. so i guess i found another thing to spend some money on, but ill make more tomaro thanks man.

 

When my front alternator bearing went south, it continued to work (sort of) for a long time and many many miles. The one thing that happened was that some of the belt wore off and there was some noise from time to time. The A/C compressor bearing can also cause alignment problems. Another thing which fouled up the belt was me. I got it caught on something down by the vibration damper and this chewed up a couple of strips off the belt. When the Alternator bearing was acting up, the tensioner jumped around. It was only after I changed the alternator that I saw the tensioner run smoothly. I had had the truck for a year and a half at that point. It is amazing how long these engines will continue to function with all kinds of things wrong.

Good luck in chasing down your problem.

 

yes i notice that my tenstions goes back and forth just like your talking about. how did you figure you alt bearing where bad? mine doesnt look that old, turns over nice and smooth. im thinken the ac comp might be the cause of this problem. thats why im trying to find a way to bypass the comp. you ever hear about some one doing this?

 

Ok, when mine was doing that it was the water pump.... so it could be any of the pulleys, just check them all, teh tensioner seems to be the one that goes south most often...

 

I ran mine with the non ac belt for over a year because the compressor was bad. worked fine. If the belt they give you is too long it will rub the ac pulley just try another brand about 1 inch shorter and it will clear just fine. I agree you have a pulley problem, most likely the tensioner.

 

To answer your A/C -- Non-A/C belt question:

If you have a standard factory A/C compressor, you should be able to run the standard Non-A/C belt with no problems.

I have had occasion to use Non-A/C belts on several of my A/C engines with no problems.

In fact, everyone should carry a Non-A/C belt, in the event that something goes hay-wire with the A/C compressor.

I like the tool-less convenience and no-slip security of the 8-rib serpentine belt; but, the V-belt system has a decided advantage when a belt-driven component decides to lock up, as one can remove the belt that drives that component, without completely dis-abling the engine.

 

Tensioner pully.

My tensioner pulley seemed fine in all aspects, but the belt would always jump a groove.... and it first started doing this after some other service.

The new pully had a massive amount of extra friction in the bearings compared to the old one....

Solved the problem...

After looking at the old pully I still cant believe it was the problem.

 

What tranny do you have?

My problem was the thrust bearing on the crank came apart giving me 1/8" of end play. I believe this was cause by having the clutch disengaged on startup for 250k miles.

 

I was so used to the noise and jumping tensioner that I discovered the bad bearing when the belt broke. I could not believe that it has still been working with all of the metal rubbed off the alternator by the pulley. That bearing was gone. It is beginning to look like anything can cause a belt problem.

If your AC goes, you can use the non AC belt. And it is a good idea to carry a spare one... just in case. Just about any old AC compressor from a chrysler product will work if it comes from the same era. You have to change pulleys and grind a piece of the flange on the aluminum casting and there you are. The bearing does go and it too can cause havoc. I have never had a tensioner go except when some dummy pried on the side of it and snapped it off. I was trying to line up the belt better and thought (incorrectly) that it was bent. It wasn't, the problem lay somewhere else. I found that cummins had one for almost half the price of Chrysler and I think they are available at most parts outfits, sometimes for even less. Some of the problems I had with the belt were due to the fact that I had never owned a vehicle with one before and did not know what made them tick. Was I ever surprised to find out that a 3/8 drive fit the tensioner. It sure made it easier to change the belt

 

Replace the whole tensioner, usually the problem is caused by the pivot point wearing out. That ***** the whole assembly to the side and makes the belt track poorly.

 

yea i am going to try that next. and put on a new non ac belt thanks for the help guys