Truck is 11 years old now, or close to it and we started hearing the tell-tale noise coming from under the hood that something was failing in the fan belt area. Best I could tell it was coming from the tensioner or one of the idler pulleys. Jumped online and started looking for parts but since the belt was old and was going to be pulled off anyway, wanted to go ahead and replace that as well. Rockauto was by far the best choice - they had a kit with a new Gates V-belt, both idler pulleys and a new tensioner for $76. Got the kit and pulled the old belt off - was in remarkably good shape but replaced it anyway. Found that the lower idler pulley was the culprit - when I pulled it off the back of the sealed bearing was falling off, some of the bearings were missing and there was no grease left whatsoever. Pulled the other idler pulley off and could tell it was not far from the same fate. Went ahead and installed all the new parts and belt and now it's singing again like it used to.

 

Keep the old belt in the truck just in case the new one breaks.

SJ03

 

Yep - old belt and old tensioner ready as backup.

 

If you can catch it before bearings gone to ****. You can use a very small precision screw driver to pop off seal, clean out bearing with wd 40 and a little compressed air, add a little new grease to bearing reinstall seal. FYI 10 minute free repair.

 

After 11 years, I didn't think $76 and a half hour with a socket wrench was too bad vs. taking a chance trying to replace a relatively cheap part and keep running the same tired old belt and tensioner.

 

I agree with you. Just posted for a FYI. By the way. I am on my 3rd tensioner for my 03.

 

Sure thing. It's all about what you are comfortable with. In my case, the pulley bearing was too far gone for a DIY fix. Not sure how much of the damage was done between the time I first heard the noise and when I got the kit delivered and went to fix it. Perhaps if I had gone ahead and pulled everything apart, I could have put a temp fix to it until the permanent repair could be done.

 

I changed all of that because it was noisy and it was quite for 2 days. Now I can hear my alternator bearing is going. LOL And the beat goes on....

 

When I bought my truck in August, '07, I bought a new belt and tossed it in the back. It's still there. It may dry-rot before I need it.

 

Good bit of preventative maintenance. I had an idler pulley grenade at about 80 mph on the Autobahn about this time last year. It shredded the belt and left me with a two week headache to finally get it home and get it fixed (I was on my way to the airport and my poor, loving wife had to deal with the recovery/towing... and it didn't go well).