So I replaced my old belt tensioner that was letting the belt slightly ride off the side of the tensioner pulley. It wasn't eating the belt yet so I figured I would replace it before it did. Well I bought a new one from NAPA with a steel pulley and after about 100 miles I heard a ticking sound and looked and the front side of the belt is getting eaten up. It is trying to ride off the outside of the AC compressor pulley. So I tried a new belt thinking maybe I didn't install it correctly. Still rides off, so I get another tensioner from Checkers, which by the way lookes exactly like the one from NAPA even the same numbers but $40 cheaper, and the belt still rides off of this one.

So anybody have any ideas as to why the belt is riding off the AC pulley with these new tensioners?

thanks, Aaron

 

might try putting a straight edge on your pullys and see if you got one out of alignment or start engine and watch for one wobbling, hows your vibration dampener.

 

My old tensioner was eating my belt, I replaced it with a new Goodyear brand tensioner and now it does not rub. I do beleive there are two brands of tensioners, one is a Goodyear that looks more blocky and beefy than the factory one and the other brand actually looks like the factory tensioner.

 

Cummins from the factory uses Dayco, which can be bougt at Ghetto Zone. Napa uses Gates. i like running the Gates belt on the dayco tensioner.

$40 Belt-napa
$64 Tension-auto zone

 

i've got the fan off so I can see things better and it looks like the vibration damper may be wobbling. The only thing is that the belt is not coming off of the fan pulley, only the AC pulley. So I don't know.

 

The boys at cummins ( here in town) seem to think there are 2 different styles of tensioners. They will ask you for your engine's serial number and with that they should be able to get the right one.
I would like to know though if the dayco one you can get from an aftermarket supplier ( napa, checker etc...) is the exact same one as oem or like someone here metion just looks the same or close?
How good of quality is the goodyear one? I really don't like the plastic pulley of the dayco, but if it's last for 312k, then i think it's worth buying another.
Any comments?
Thanks
Brent

 

I am thinking that I might just try the Dayco one out. The goodyear ones are not working for me. I did look at the one that cummins pulled out for me and it had a plastic pulley, which is why I went with the goodyear with the metal pulley.

I may also install a new harmonic balancer but I really don't think it is bad, there is no rubber sticking out anywhere.

I'll let everyone know what happens when I get back into town in a couple weeks.

Aaron

 

Just out of curiosity why isn't the good year one working for you? I was thinking about trying a goodyear.
Brent

 

Basically since I put it on it is causing the belt to ride off the front of the AC compressor pulley. With the old tensioner the belt was just starting to come off the tensioner pulley but it was fine on the rest of the pulleys. I only ran the new tensioner for 100miles before I noticed the belt coming off.

 

If your AC doesn't work, just buy a non-AC belt. Better check the torque on the vib damper bolts.

 

I thought about getting the non-AC belt just to see if the belt would stay on everything else. However my AC does work and I like it. I also checked the damper bolts and they are 100ft/lbs tight.

 

Well i've tried both the goodyear and the dayco tensioner, with a brand new gator back belt with no luck. The belt still rides off the front of the AC pulley. I also got a non AC belt and installed and it also rides off the front of the tensioner pulley. With the AC belt it also rides off the front of tensioner pulley.

Looking at the crank pulley while its running it wobbles a little so i've ordered a new one and hoping that that might be the problem. Also the only thing that has even a small amount of play is the water pump but it is very small.

What gets me is that before I decided to change the belt tensioner the only thing I noticed wrong was that the belt was riding off the front of the tensioner a little. The belt was fine on everything else. Now with a new tensioner it makes the belt ride off of the front of the AC pulley.

So anybody have any other ideas of what to look at?

thanks, Aaron

 

I would just check all the pulleys, fan hub, water pump, crank, ac, and alternator and just make sure they are all lined up properly and not loose or have any play. Before i had my truck on the road I had to replace the alternator pulley as it was chewing up belts.

 

My buddy had a Jeep that kept doing that and it turned out to be a bad bearing on one of the pullies that made it keet eating up belts.


Chris

 

I would agree with the guy that is saying check everything to make sure all is inline properly. On the belt tensioner there is a nipple thing that sticks out on the backside of the part and is meant to be aligned on the engine. Make sure that it is in the hole ( no pun intended).
Also, if there is some wobble in the crankshaft pulley you might want to take a closer look there. There are two bolts that a VERY close to the belt near the crankshaft pulley. Once i wrapped the belt around one, but figured it out before i started it or it would've instantly ruined the belt.
Brent