Underdrive pulley installation for a 2nd gen Ram by BadStratRT
#1
07-17-2006, 04:24 PM
Underdrive pulley installation for a 2nd gen Ram by BadStratRT
Underdrive pulley installation for a 2nd gen Ram.
This was performed on a 1994 SB RC Ram with a 5.9. While there are other kits available, I opted for a March Performance ‘Performance Series’ kit. The kit will run you about $200 USD from Jegs, and comes with an Alternator pulley, water pump pulley, and crankshaft pulley. It also comes with new bolts for the water pump and crankshaft. The March Performance Series kit uses the OEM belt.
You will notice in my pictures that I do not run a clutch fan, but I will start my DIY as though I did have one, as most people do. I am sorry that I do not have pictures of the fan removal, but I will describe it the best that I can.
Items needed:
• Clutch fan removing tool. You may be able to get the large center nut off with just a crescent wrench, but I was not. Most parts stores will rent this tool, and it makes the job a lot easier.
• 13mm socket/ratchet
• 15mm socket/ratchet
• A half inch drive ratchet
• A Hammer
• A ratchet extension, at least two inches long
• 7/8 impact socket/impact gun. I understand that this is not an option for someone who doesn’t own a compressor and impact gun, but I honestly couldn’t imagine having done this job without it. No matter what I tried, I could not loosen the alternator pulley. If you do not own a gun, I would recommend taking the alternator off, and take it to a shop that will take it off for you.
• Penetrating Oil
• An assistant
• Eye protection
Step one, fan and shroud removal:
First off, this is probably the most difficult part do this job, provided that you can use an impact gun to remove the alt bolt.
The clutch fan removal tool kit will have a bunch of “wrenches”. You will need the largest one, and one of the smaller ones. It helps to have a helper during this part. Put the ½ inch drive ratchet into the hole on the large wrench piece, and put it around the water pump bolts. If you loosen the water pump bolts a little, it makes it easier to keep the wrench on there. This wrench is only there to hold the water pump still when you’re loosening the fan. The location of the large wrench is shown in red, the blue arrow points to where the fan bolts on.
Then take the smaller wrench, and put it on the large center bolt on the fan. Some fans are reversed threads, ours is standard. Once it breaks loose, it should spin off freely just by turning the fan. Once you have the fan almost completely off, take a 13mm socket/ratchet and loosen the four bolts holding the fan shroud onto the radiator. Once the shroud is free, finish removing the fan, and lift the fan and shroud out together.
It will look like this:
You will then want to soak the bolts in penetrating oil. I tried without it, and they would not move. After soaking them, they came right off. DO NOT REMOVE THE SERP BELT YET! That makes it much more difficult.
The bolts which you will need to soak and remove are shown here:
Once everything has soaked a bit, I started with the water pump pulley bolts, using a 13mm socket. The assistant will come in handy with this as well. Mine would not loosen, even with the tension of the belt, so I had my lovely assistant put a 15mm socket on the tensioner, and add extra tension, and that allowed me to break them loose. ONLY break them loose for now.
Next, the alternator bolt. Even when soaked in penetrating oil, as tried and tried, and with a breaker bar and a 7/8 inch socket, I could not budge the bolt. The pulley would just turn. Once you put the impact gun on it, the impact gun turns faster than the alternator can, so it took it right off. If you have an impact gun, you will want to not hold the trigger, but instead do a rapid series of quick pulls. If you cannot get it off, I would recommend going to a shop, and ask them to take it off for you.
Once it if off, you can remove the serp belt using a 15mm socket on the tensioner, pulling as shown here:
You can then remove the bolts in the water pump pulley, and pull off that pulley and the alternator pulley.
Now onto the crank pulley. I am not sure about other years of the 5.9, but with the 94, the crank pulley is not pressed on, and it is just held on by the 6 bolts. Using a 13mm ratchet and the two inch extension, remove each bolt. Once they are out, if it still doesn’t come off, you will need to get something in behind it to pop it off. I put one rather handle behind it, and hit that with the hammer, and off it came. Once all three pulleys are off, check the mounting surfaces for any debris that may not allow the new pulleys to sit flush. Once everything is all cleaned off, it’s onto installation!
Step Three, New Pulley installation:
My kit came with new bolts with had hex-key heads, but I did not have a good hex key tool, so I stuck with the stock bolts. They were the exact same length and I trust the stock bolts, they just are as “pretty”. I started with the crank pulley, and got all six bolts in, then used a cross pattern to tighten the pulley, helping to ensure that it tightened flush to the harmonic balancer. Again, I used the stock bolts and the 13mm ratchet and extension.
I went to the water pump pulley then. I tightened them all finger tight, as it’s hard to tighten them without the belt on.
Now onto the alternator. My new alt pulley seemed to not want to go all the way on, but with some force, it popped over the tapered bolt of the alt. Then put the large bolt on and get it finger tight. Again, you will want to tighten this with the belt on.
So, put the belt back on, using the 15mm socket. Once the belt is on, you can tighten the water pump bolts with the 13mm socket (or the hex key). Once they are all tight, you will need the impact gun and 7/8” socket again. Tighten the alt pulley, doing the same rapid pulls of the trigger. Once it’s tight, I ran the gun down on it hard; making sure that it was tight.
Then inspect the alignment of your pulleys, to make sure that none look obviously out of line, and to make sure that your belt is sitting properly in all of the pulleys. Go back over all of the bolts to make sure that they are tight, and then you are ready to start it up.
At first, stand back, in case the belt flies off, but once it has run for a few seconds, take a look for any wobbling or irregular belt travel, while wearing the eye protection. Bring the RPMs up and check for any slippage, irregular travel, etc. Once you have established that everything is secure and done so correctly, you’re done, and it should look like this:
For those of you running the stock fan, put the clutch fan assembly back on with the shroud. Do so by lowering the fan and shroud into the engine bay together. Have your assistant hold the fan still while you bolt in the shroud. BE CAREFUL not to let the fan bang against the radiator. Once the shroud is on, you can use the same tools to tighten the fan.
A few things to consider. The underdrive pulley kit does add some power; March advertises 12whp on a 5.9L with this kit. However, this WILL negatively affect your trucks charging system. Running MSD ignition and the electric fans on a 90 amp alt, sitting in traffic is rough, as the alternator isn’t at full charge until it gets to around 1100rpm, so when you are idling, it is WELL under full charge. The lights dim, fan slows, etc…I just take it out of gear and bring the RPMs up a little. For those of you running the stock fans and ignition, it should be less of an issue for you, but it is still something to consider.
Here are some before and after shots, showing the different in the pulleys.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
Ram2ndGen
This was performed on a 1994 SB RC Ram with a 5.9. While there are other kits available, I opted for a March Performance ‘Performance Series’ kit. The kit will run you about $200 USD from Jegs, and comes with an Alternator pulley, water pump pulley, and crankshaft pulley. It also comes with new bolts for the water pump and crankshaft. The March Performance Series kit uses the OEM belt.
You will notice in my pictures that I do not run a clutch fan, but I will start my DIY as though I did have one, as most people do. I am sorry that I do not have pictures of the fan removal, but I will describe it the best that I can.
Items needed:
• Clutch fan removing tool. You may be able to get the large center nut off with just a crescent wrench, but I was not. Most parts stores will rent this tool, and it makes the job a lot easier.
• 13mm socket/ratchet
• 15mm socket/ratchet
• A half inch drive ratchet
• A Hammer
• A ratchet extension, at least two inches long
• 7/8 impact socket/impact gun. I understand that this is not an option for someone who doesn’t own a compressor and impact gun, but I honestly couldn’t imagine having done this job without it. No matter what I tried, I could not loosen the alternator pulley. If you do not own a gun, I would recommend taking the alternator off, and take it to a shop that will take it off for you.
• Penetrating Oil
• An assistant
• Eye protection
Step one, fan and shroud removal:
First off, this is probably the most difficult part do this job, provided that you can use an impact gun to remove the alt bolt.
The clutch fan removal tool kit will have a bunch of “wrenches”. You will need the largest one, and one of the smaller ones. It helps to have a helper during this part. Put the ½ inch drive ratchet into the hole on the large wrench piece, and put it around the water pump bolts. If you loosen the water pump bolts a little, it makes it easier to keep the wrench on there. This wrench is only there to hold the water pump still when you’re loosening the fan. The location of the large wrench is shown in red, the blue arrow points to where the fan bolts on.
Then take the smaller wrench, and put it on the large center bolt on the fan. Some fans are reversed threads, ours is standard. Once it breaks loose, it should spin off freely just by turning the fan. Once you have the fan almost completely off, take a 13mm socket/ratchet and loosen the four bolts holding the fan shroud onto the radiator. Once the shroud is free, finish removing the fan, and lift the fan and shroud out together.
It will look like this:
You will then want to soak the bolts in penetrating oil. I tried without it, and they would not move. After soaking them, they came right off. DO NOT REMOVE THE SERP BELT YET! That makes it much more difficult.
The bolts which you will need to soak and remove are shown here:
Once everything has soaked a bit, I started with the water pump pulley bolts, using a 13mm socket. The assistant will come in handy with this as well. Mine would not loosen, even with the tension of the belt, so I had my lovely assistant put a 15mm socket on the tensioner, and add extra tension, and that allowed me to break them loose. ONLY break them loose for now.
Next, the alternator bolt. Even when soaked in penetrating oil, as tried and tried, and with a breaker bar and a 7/8 inch socket, I could not budge the bolt. The pulley would just turn. Once you put the impact gun on it, the impact gun turns faster than the alternator can, so it took it right off. If you have an impact gun, you will want to not hold the trigger, but instead do a rapid series of quick pulls. If you cannot get it off, I would recommend going to a shop, and ask them to take it off for you.
Once it if off, you can remove the serp belt using a 15mm socket on the tensioner, pulling as shown here:
You can then remove the bolts in the water pump pulley, and pull off that pulley and the alternator pulley.
Now onto the crank pulley. I am not sure about other years of the 5.9, but with the 94, the crank pulley is not pressed on, and it is just held on by the 6 bolts. Using a 13mm ratchet and the two inch extension, remove each bolt. Once they are out, if it still doesn’t come off, you will need to get something in behind it to pop it off. I put one rather handle behind it, and hit that with the hammer, and off it came. Once all three pulleys are off, check the mounting surfaces for any debris that may not allow the new pulleys to sit flush. Once everything is all cleaned off, it’s onto installation!
Step Three, New Pulley installation:
My kit came with new bolts with had hex-key heads, but I did not have a good hex key tool, so I stuck with the stock bolts. They were the exact same length and I trust the stock bolts, they just are as “pretty”. I started with the crank pulley, and got all six bolts in, then used a cross pattern to tighten the pulley, helping to ensure that it tightened flush to the harmonic balancer. Again, I used the stock bolts and the 13mm ratchet and extension.
I went to the water pump pulley then. I tightened them all finger tight, as it’s hard to tighten them without the belt on.
Now onto the alternator. My new alt pulley seemed to not want to go all the way on, but with some force, it popped over the tapered bolt of the alt. Then put the large bolt on and get it finger tight. Again, you will want to tighten this with the belt on.
So, put the belt back on, using the 15mm socket. Once the belt is on, you can tighten the water pump bolts with the 13mm socket (or the hex key). Once they are all tight, you will need the impact gun and 7/8” socket again. Tighten the alt pulley, doing the same rapid pulls of the trigger. Once it’s tight, I ran the gun down on it hard; making sure that it was tight.
Then inspect the alignment of your pulleys, to make sure that none look obviously out of line, and to make sure that your belt is sitting properly in all of the pulleys. Go back over all of the bolts to make sure that they are tight, and then you are ready to start it up.
At first, stand back, in case the belt flies off, but once it has run for a few seconds, take a look for any wobbling or irregular belt travel, while wearing the eye protection. Bring the RPMs up and check for any slippage, irregular travel, etc. Once you have established that everything is secure and done so correctly, you’re done, and it should look like this:
For those of you running the stock fan, put the clutch fan assembly back on with the shroud. Do so by lowering the fan and shroud into the engine bay together. Have your assistant hold the fan still while you bolt in the shroud. BE CAREFUL not to let the fan bang against the radiator. Once the shroud is on, you can use the same tools to tighten the fan.
A few things to consider. The underdrive pulley kit does add some power; March advertises 12whp on a 5.9L with this kit. However, this WILL negatively affect your trucks charging system. Running MSD ignition and the electric fans on a 90 amp alt, sitting in traffic is rough, as the alternator isn’t at full charge until it gets to around 1100rpm, so when you are idling, it is WELL under full charge. The lights dim, fan slows, etc…I just take it out of gear and bring the RPMs up a little. For those of you running the stock fans and ignition, it should be less of an issue for you, but it is still something to consider.
Here are some before and after shots, showing the different in the pulleys.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
Ram2ndGen
