I brought my 99 Dakota Sport 4x4 v6 5 sp. into the shop a couple weeks ago due to some squealing coming from the front end. The first shop told me my power steering pump was bad and needed to be replaced because it was bent, as well as the idler and tensioner pulley. It was $290(a ripoff) for the power steering pump and $190 for the tensioner and idler pulley. I decided to do the pulleys and not the power steering pump, since I knew that was really high. I brought it a different shop and they said my power steering had a slight wobble but the noise was coming from the tensioner still. They told me that a Gator Belt from Napa would help since my truck is older and things aren't aligned quite right anymore. Its quiet now so I cant really complain, just curious if anyone else has had any experience with a Gator Belt? TIA

 

Squealing stop from using a Gator-Belt?? Never heard
of that but,.. I CAN say I have used those belts on more than
a few cars I've owned and never had a problem with them.
The ribs are sectioned out so they are less prone to cracking.
I could see where it might help do to less contact,.. Go for it if the
noise comes back. I would also think that alignment issues could
be brought back under control with a few properly placed washer too.

 

I was gonna say, fix the problem, don't treat the symptom. A Goodyear Gator belt is a fine belt, but if it's being used to treat noise from misaligned pulleys...it's at the mercy of the problem...and probably won't last long either. I'd fix the alignment of the accessories before buying expensive belts.

 

Thats what I planned on doing. They said they aligned the pulley correctly now and that I didnt really need to replace the power steering pump though. I know you all say to fix the problem, but keep in mind I'm in college and dont really have extra income to replace everything that I should replace on a 132,000 mile truck. I'm actually trying to sell it to get something else when I graduate.

 

I agree with the others here too. I can say that a Gator belt was the only one I could find that would actually not slip on my blower. I had to tighten the crap out of it, but no more slippy