seizes pulley tensioner

Johnstone

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I just snapped my belt on my blower!

first time ever happen to me. one of my tensioner seized. I must of been rolling like that for a while for my belt to snap.

is it normal that this happened??

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07 Boss

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I always carry a spare belt in the trunk, I've had to replace too many over the decades to not have one always with me. Blowers put an enormous amount of stress on the belt and pulleys and it is not uncommon to have failures of this nature. Do you run the stock tensioner? Was it the actual tensioner pulley or one of the idler pulleys that seized up? I should have been some squealing before it failed as the bearing went out. I run a Thumpracing tensioner and have replaced all my idler pulleys with a set from Metco. They even swapped one of their pulleys in the kit for a larger one to match up with the Whipple one.






I even have a dented hood from once when a belt shredded halfway and flung itself against the bottom of my hood at 5K rpms's




So to answer your question it is not normal but it is not uncommon. Be prepared (Boy Scouts).
 

JeremyH

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Not unheard of. Guys often upgrade the idle pulleys to ones with better bearings and some kind of tensioner upgrade.
 

Johnstone

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I always carry a spare belt in the trunk, I've had to replace too many over the decades to not have one always with me. Blowers put an enormous amount of stress on the belt and pulleys and it is not uncommon to have failures of this nature. Do you run the stock tensioner? Was it the actual tensioner pulley or one of the idler pulleys that seized up? I should have been some squealing before it failed as the bearing went out. I run a Thumpracing tensioner and have replaced all my idler pulleys with a set from Metco. They even swapped one of their pulleys in the kit for a larger one to match up with the Whipple one.






I even have a dented hood from once when a belt shredded halfway and flung itself against the bottom of my hood at 5K rpms's




So to answer your question it is not normal but it is not uncommon. Be prepared (Boy Scouts).
yes it's the Idler pulley. still the original one.

I'll see if I can attempt myself this week.

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06monera96

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holy smokes that were one hell of an explosion to have dented your hood.
I lost a belt at 6200rpm once just took out the belt and nothing else, moment i heard it shred i turn off the motor.
 

07 Boss

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holy smokes that were one hell of an explosion to have dented your hood.
I lost a belt at 6200rpm once just took out the belt and nothing else, moment i heard it shred i turn off the motor.


Well only half the belt split and part of it got whipped around and around as the motor was shut down, but it had to have fit that spot a few dozen times. Sounded like a my car was being shot by an M249. It also tore into one of my power steering hoses. Didn't puncture it but I replaced it anyways.

Still have the dent, gonna throw a stock scoop over it one of these days to hide it. to hide it.
 

Johnstone

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I pulled it out. the thing is completely warped. what could cause this??
2056cd7ef939f40467f25cfa5f01c59d.jpg
9f12f5513dace1833af999401645eeff.jpg


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MrAwesome987

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You guys are making me think I may need to take more seriously the whining/squealing idler on mine lol
 

Johnstone

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what would a torque spec be like on the pulleys? I cant find any info on that

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07 Boss

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what would a torque spec be like on the pulleys? I cant find any info on that

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I think it's like 18 to 20 but I'm not sure. Don't go too tight. Snug them on there with some red loctite and be done. I don't think I ever torqued mine to any spec.
 

Johnstone

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18 it was.. thanks.

finally got it back in.. new belt and all!! 2 hours.

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Windstang

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I regularly (100K miles) change the bearings in the tensioner pulleys. Changing the bearings is pretty easy and I don't buy the pulley/bearing combo at the Autoparts stores. I usually get a non-Chinese pulley - SKF or similar. I had a squeal once from under the hood and thought it was the power steering pump - turned out to be the pulley bearing. Listen for weird noises!
 

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