Arghhh! Damn Belt tensioner

[pigseye]

Hey gang,
Have a 1994 IDI, turbo, 159k.

Threw a belt yesterday and it bent the tensioner into the idle pulley and fan blade. First time the belt came off since I owned the truck (about a year).

I did a search on belt tensioners and the general consensus was it was fairly simple to remove. Well I can't get the idle pulley off or the belt tensioner. Seems like everything is designed to be in the way.

<rant on> Man, I hate Ford. Have had Fords all my life and it seems like they need so many special tools or you have to take the truck half apart to fix one broken thing. Maybe all makes of trucks are like this but the last decent Ford pickup I had was a 1981 F150 6 cyl with manual transmission. Now that was a real truck! Enough whining. <rant off>

OK, back to the real world. How do I get the damn idle pulley off? What size Torx is it? I thought someone here said it was a 40 but it seems like it's a 50 but it just doesn't seem to grip right.

Would taking off the fan blade help?

I tried to get the vacuum pump pulley off but the bottom bolt on the right won't come loose. Another impossible place to get your hand and a wrench. Arghh!

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[BROWNIEBOY525]

you dont have to remove the fan to take off the idler or tensioner. all you need to remove the idler is a t-50 and it just unbolts.

 

[dakotajeep]

Remember the threads on your tensioner are reverse threaded. Maybe the turbo'ed 7.3's are harder to get around in but mine was pretty accessable to get to the tensioner.

I also think it was a T50.

Thad

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

I can't speak for the turbo's, but I've fragged both styles on my n/a version and other than the last one eating the idler pulley there was nothing special to pulling them off. IMHO both styles of Ford tensioner for the IDI's generall suck , as I have lunched both of them inside of a year of service. I would make sure that you talk to the dealer and make sure he gives you a warranty (I think the last one I got was a year or two, which came in handy when it imploded). I have heard that Napa sells a better version of the IDI tensioner but I've never had it confirmed by anybody on this site so I at this point I consider it urban legend .

Good luck, and save your reciept.

 

[BROWNIEBOY525]

IMHO both styles of Ford tensioner for the IDI's generall suck , as I have lunched both of them inside of a year of service. Good luck, and save your reciept.

you got that right i think i have been threw three tensioners and belts in two years. I was talking to the guys at work (I work for a ford dealer) and they said that ford came out with all sorts of tsb's, service messages, and stuipid crap that didnt work to try and keep belts on these trucks.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Every time I look at my belts slapping during a cold idle I wish I had a serpentine belt setup... now, I ain't so sure no more

 

[pigseye]

I appreciate the responses. Here's what happened.

Couldn't access the top bolt with a socket so a box end wrench was used. But that wouldn't work either since the there wasn't enough space for the wrench to fit on the bolt to loosen it. After much frustration, I finally grabbed a sledgehammer and bent the wrench to get it to fit. Success! Now I could get the bolt off but I couldn't remove the T50 Torx nut on the idler pulley. Since the tensioner was jammed into the pulley nothing was going to move.

Now I find out that the torx nut is reverse threaded. Is that really true?

It's all moot now anyway. Had the truck towed to a mechanic and had all the parts replaced including the belt.

That was expensive considering it's supposed to just be a belt tensioner!

Oh well, this is part of the joy of owning any vehicle.

 

[dakotajeep]

Dude, I assumed you knew about it being reverse threaded. I feel bad for not saying anything. Sorry

Thad

 

[pigseye]

No problem DJ. I was literally working on the truck when I posted and by the time I saw your response, the truck was already towed.

I should have checked both directions anyway but my frustration level was already pretty high! ;-)

 

[dakotajeep]

I understand totally.....been there for sure!!!

Thad