so i was looking for the idler pulley, found it under the alternator, and put a 1/2" drive ratchet to give it a twist so i could get the belt loose to replace it with the new one sitting in the garage. well when i went to turn the wrench, it wont budge in either direction. what am i doing wrong. on my last truck, a '97, it turned easy.

thanks,
vc

 

I use a flex-head ratchet, as it allows for a better clocking position prior to the pull. It should not be that hard.. Has your truck been around a lot of salt water ?

There is a belt shred issue on 03 to 05(6-29-05 mfg date) 5.9's, it requires an overruning alternator pulley to fix.. just had mine done under warranty. belt shredded with only 23K on it. No TSB # it was listed as a service repair tip. OAP part # is 05183490AA

I no longer have the belt squeal at shutdown.. Hope this helps

Also I called the NAPA store and they said they have an idler with a metal pulley now, I have not seen it to confirm..

 

thanks for the reply. i have not had any issue with belt shred. the truck has the original belt on it with 68k miles on it now. i just want to change it as preventative maintenance - but it actually looks to still be in good shape. i guess i will try to pull on the wrench harder - i just don't recall my last cummins being this hard to turn the wrench/idler for getting the belt off.

thanks again,
vc

 

VC, why are you changing ur belt so soon???? It still has half of its service life left. I just replaced mine at 145k and was sorry I did. Belt looked NEW and with no 'shut down chirp'. Well the gates that I bought from carquest has the 'chirp' in it. You might want to rethink this.

Jim

 

does a new pully get rid of that dang chrip.

 

dezeldog,
i was changing it because i got used to doing the preventive maintenance so as to not take a chance on it breaking at between 60k - 80k on previous vehicles.

anyway, i got it changed out and all is well. if you don't want chirp on shut down, you really have to get the goodyear gatorback belt. i got one on the '97 i use to have and it got rid of it and now this one is chirp free as well.

i thank you all for your help, it was just extra tight tension but i just pulled harder and it moved.

thanks again all,

vc