Idler pulleys bad?

My cheap $15 belt will reveal if something else is wrong! There are a lot of other mods I'd rather spend $100 bucks on, lol. Appreciate the response though

 

Searching for both of those resulted in: "No products were found matching your search!"

 

I did however, find them on ToyotaPartsDeal. The 31020 result is it does not fit my truck and the 31010 fits, but is discontinued.

 

Looks like build-up on my tensioner pulley was what damaged the belt. Anyone know why this would happen? Obviously pressing new bearings into this mess isn't an option. I cleaned it up with a wire wheel but the metal is actually raised up. So my only option I assume, is to buy the whole tensioner assembly, correct? Blah...

 

Have to assume that if the pulley looks that bad the spring in the tensioner is probably shot so just do the whole assembly. Gave you info on it in post #23 to install. If your coolant has not been dropping due to a leaky water pump or thermostat housing it's just 16 years of crappy environment.

 

Yes, I watched that video and it scared me enough to not want to mess with the tensioner assembly, lol. I don't have a lift and if a mechanic had to beat the hell out of stuff to get it to break free, I'm sure mine will all be rusted solid. I'm recovering from a pinched nerve in my neck so lying on the ground and working above me isn't going to happen at the moment. I will order the entire tensioner assembly and just use the pulley for now, with my $15 belt. If a few weeks hopefully I'll be able to attempt the tensioner and then if all else seems good, put on my OEM belt.

Thanks again for posting the links they were super helpful, no coolant leaks fortunately.

The toyota dealer responded to my email that part number 16604-31030 will in fact fit my '06. *EDIT, I went back on the website and oddly, the 16604-0P011 was no long listed as unavailable. I emailed the dealer again to verify that I should still go with the 31030 and they responded back that it would NOT fit.

 

I guess I didn't realize just how noisy this thing was until I got the idler's replaced! I have driven about 50 miles since replacing them, so far so good. I did make a mistake though, I tightened up the pulleys before grabbing my torque wrench. I had to loosen both #2 idlers to torque them because I tightened them too much. I hope I didn't damage the bearings. 29 ft. pounds seems like it's not nearly tight enough!

 

Rust and mileage, will wreak havoc. I wouldnt think anything is wrong to cause it other than that. Just a wear item(s)

 

Yeah, that looked pretty bad, Dianna. Hope you replaced the belt as well. Just torque it down a few more pounds if it starts "squealing". Don't over do it, you'll be back where you started. I wish you luck

 

Torque setting is so you don't stretch and break the bolts. The bearing is not affected as you are securing the inner race only. No worries.
I'm old school so do most without a torque wrench unless critical head bolts, rods etc - other things tighten them and done.

 

Goodentight

 

You need excessive torque pressure to split the center inner race bearing. I saw that some time, when people use air/electric impact wrench, doing "uga duga" with a tool putting over 1000 ft/lbs is always risky.

It's always good to use the factory torque setting, too much torque on the long term with heat/cold expansion, belt pressure/aligment and the usualy running time, the bolt can strech/deform and this cause uneven pressure on the race inside and the clearance around the ball bearing inside change. It's not a dead sentence but the bearing will not last as long.

 

Thanks guys, I feel a lot better about it now! I will check the torque in a few days, I really felt like these were barely tight! I have a confession, I'm like muddog321, I usually think I am a pretty good judge of how tight I can go without a torque wrench. I've had my share of tighten it until it breaks, and learned the hard way, lol. Anyway, back to my confession, I pulled my 3/8 torque wrench out of my toolbox and went to set the dial to 29 and I only saw 120-960! After staring at it for a few minutes, I grabbed my 1/2 torque wrench and used that one. Little did I realize my 3/8" was in inch pounds, I just figured that out now, blonde moment . Thanks again for all the help!

 

I meant the tension on the belt itself. For some reason I thought your truck was older. This war has me distracted. Sorry for any confusion. Back in the day, we put tension on the belt with the alternator bracket & tightened down the bolt. Test drove it, if the belt squealed, put a few more pounds on it. muddog is correct. I need to stop having ten tabs open in my browser while watching the news, lol. Glad you got it sorted out, Dianna

 

For less than $200 I’ll be replacing them before they even go bad ESPECIALLY since you have the belt off and are already in there.