I have a '99 Dodge Ram 1500 w/5.2L. I've gone through three belts in the last 4 mon. The belt appears to be rubbing on the back side causing the break. Right now the belt is missing the back "tooth" and is pushed all the way to the forward side of the pulleys except on the drive pulley. On the drive pulley it is all the way to the back of the pulley. In addition when I rev the RPM up the drive pulley appears to jump forward slightly! Is this even possible, or am I seeing things? If anyone else has experienced a similar problem or has any solutions I would really appreciate it! As of now I plan to replace the water pump pulley, even though it is not grooved, it is the last thing the belt goes over before it reaches the drive pulley.

 

Remove the belt and make sure all the accesories are free spinning(i.e. alternator,a/c, etc.) and all mounting is tight as well as the pulleys being straight and true, not wobbly.
Definitely pay attention to the belt tensioner pulley.

 

The crank pulley, he large one all of the way at the bottom? If so, excess crankshaft end play is possibly the culprit...if you're talking about the belt tensioner, it's completely normal, it's doing it's job by applying the proper pressure at different rpm's.

 

How many miles are on it? It is normal so have some endplay.

 

Its normal to have SOME endplay, but not excessive. Look in the FSM and it will tell you ahve to check it and what it should be. Also your harminic sinc might not be all the way on there, I dunno how it would happen but that woulc cause the bottom pully to stick out farther then the rest!

 

if you can see your crank pulley move you my friend are the victim of CRANKWALK witch sucks big donkey nuts
you should do a search and read up on crankwalk its where you crank gets pushed forward because of worn out thrust bearings..but since yours is a 99 you should not have this problem

 

It has 91K on it. It does appear to be the crank pulley that is moving. I lined it up with a rock on the ground and increased the rpm gradually and it appears to spin constantly, but if I make a sudden increase in rpm it appears to "jump" forward. I guess I will look into crankwalk. Thanks for all of the advise.

 

Does anyone know what the crankshaft pully bolt is supposed to be torqued at? Going to check that first.

Also, the water pump pully shows some funny wear. There is no wear where the belt should route, but there is wear where the belt shouldn't run, close to the pump; and since the pulley is part of the pump this is either a new pump, and could be the culprit, or has been happening since the truck was new.

 

I would defantly check and make sure all your accesories are tight. IE: Alt, AC, PS pump, belt tensioner, are all bolted tightley. Especially if you have had work done to the motor recently and everything wasn't tq'ed properly. Also, make sure all the pulleys are bolted on tightley aswell. You could take off the belt and give a good lateral yanking on everything to find the play.

 

175 ft. lbs for the crank bolt I think. I could be wrong, but its pretty tight. I even but lock-tite on mine when I put it back on