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They all move a little bit during operation, I would say no more than a quarter inch but probably closer to an eighth inch. Just enough to notice...and think, oh cwap, is something ELSE fixing to break on this thing?!Question for guys: How much does your belt tensioner move, if at all, while your engine is idling? Mine has some minor movement back and forth, and I can't recall if it exhibited this movement prior to the teardown. All the pulleys are solid, so I'm hoping it's not yet another issue I need to address. Between having to repair the brake fluid leaks, coolant leak, and power steering fluid leak, I'm starting to lose my patience with this truck.
To be on the safe side, I decided to do all the above---take a deep breath, step back, and drink.
That's great to hear. It doesn't move much but enough to concern me after not having a running truck for quite some time.
I had noticed the one on my crew cab was jumping more, especially after having to replace the belt cause the idler pulley locked up and shredded it. Would've replaced all three at once but couldn't afford to then. So after finally getting some other work done to it, checked the tensioner and it was so bad it wouldn't have gotten us all the way home (just 10 miles). I had bought it before a recent road trip, intending to replace it on that trip. I don't like some things about the way it's made, but it does the job and barely moves at all. And at least the belt setup on a Vortec 350 is pretty simple and only takes a few tools(which I keep in the truck).
yes, yes you would. I shredded the serpentine at speed (55'ish) that ended up being from a locked up tensioner. No power brakes, no power steering, instant temp spike, and the wonderful smell of melting rubber from all the shredded goodness wrapped up in everything. And now you're on the side of the road with a HOT engine. I carry a spare serp belt/tools, but not a tensioner. Fun times.I’ve got a tensioner I replaced the pulley on, but I’m just a a little hesitant about using it. Would hate for a meltdown with that at speed.
Yup when the belt was shredding itself, we were at low speed between the freeway underpass and the light to turn into the Kroger store parking lot, was going to fill up at the fuel center behind the grocery store. I'd been smelling burnt rubber for a block, and it was getting worse. Put the window down and realized it was us making the smell! Lots of truck traffic in the area and there's always smells and noises from them. Then the brake pedal started getting harder to hold down and the steering was stiffer. Light changes, we gun it into the parking lot, with the hazard flashers on. Park and switch drivers so I can muscle the brakes and steering. Got it into a space away from everyone else, trying to avoid the other dummies in the lot who don't understand what I am dealing with and why I can't easily get this big beastie out of their way, as the temp needle is climbing.... fortunately we were only a few blocks from the local O'Reilly's. And I had the tools in the truck to do the job.
Agreed. Sadly, in my saga, I checked the important items and they all seemed fine, so I just thought it was the belt itself, and breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't the water or ps pump. Waited for it to cool, unwound the mess, replaced it, and was immediately reminded that the tensioner pully is also an important item. Now I've got to get to a parts store, etc etc etc. No bueno. Thankfully it was a nice weather, middle of the day, within 5 miles of the house kindathing.... could have been so much worse.Me too, maybe a spare(tensioner), isn’t a bad idea.
