Idler Pulley Help

Hey all. So I’m currently working to diagnose a weird vibration sound that I think is coming from either my idler pulleys or water pump pulley/bearing. I’ve been doing some research and found that the water pumps tend to go bad but my truck isn’t overheating or leaking coolant from there… I took my serpentine belt off and noticed some play in my idlers as well as a lot of play from my water pump pulley. At the moment, I have found the idlers on the Toyota OEM website but there’s two different ones (part numbers). I know I need to get two idlers of the same size and then a third being a different size. I’m just not sure which ones to get. If that doesn’t fix the issue I’ll be getting a new water pump so fingers crossed. Any help is appreciated.

 

There should be zero play in the water pump bushing. I'd start there

 

I kind of figured as much. I'll go ahead and replace that as well. However I still want to replace the idlers because like I said there's play in those as well.

 

They here
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/4-0-idler-pulley-replacement-oem-vs-gates-reference.516475/

 

The toyota parts website is pretty vauge on this.
https://parts.lynchtoyota.com/oem-parts/toyota-accessory-drive-belt-idler-pulley-166030p030?c=Zz1jb29saW5nLXN5c3RlbSZzPWJlbHRzLWFuZC1wdWxsZXlzJmw9NSZuPVNlYXJjaCBSZXN1bHRzJmE9dG95b3RhJm89dGFjb21hJnk9MjAwOSZ0PWJhc2UmZT00LTBsLXY2LWdhcw==
Pretty sure you need 2
Accessory Drive Belt Idler Pulley - Toyota (16604-0P011)
and one
Accessory Drive Belt Idler Pulley - Toyota (16603-0P030)

If your water pump bearings are loose at all, you need to replace it immediately. Better to replace it when its convenient for you, rather than have it strand you or worse yet overheat your engine.

 

This is correct, I just replaced one of my uppers

Edit: you can also just press out the bearing and replace that - for the uppers it's a 6302-2RS and you can get them on Amazon

 

I looked at that before making this thread. Guess I’m still kind of confused on which go where…

 

Gotcha, yeah I’ll be replacing that first now, thank you!

 

Anything special I need to press out the bearings? I’ve never done that before

 

Well, I feel entirely stupid. I meant my POWER STEERING PUMP not my water pump... I just ordered a new power steering pump and will hopefully have it replaced this Saturday. Still racking my brains about what pulleys to buy. I.E. I still don't know which idler part numbers go with Idler 1 vs Idler 2 since there is a 16603 and a 16604 pulley.

 

Just put your VIN # in and correct #s come out for you.
First step is remove belt and check all then proceed.
Yes 2 the same and 1 diff plus and don't forget the tensioner pulley. If high miles go ahead and bite the bullet and replace the whole assembly (mine was weak so allowed belt slip at full throttle - feel and yes smelled it - pain to change assembly as alternator has to come out and AC compressor unbolted and moved some - many posts and that. more info:
Idler pulleys, tensioner, belt, and alternator replacement | Tacoma World post #7 has part #s for my 09. If doing only the tensioner pulley it is reverse thread to remove off assembly. Idlers are all normal direction.
A note that I used ToyotaPartsDeal.com but their filling of orders has become very slow if at all so beware.

 

Hydraulic press would be ideal but most people don't have one of those sitting around.. Bench vise would be the next best thing but I don't even have that - I would use a hammer and a piece of pipe or a deep socket the same outside diameter as the bearing. Results may vary lol...

 

Yeah the tensioner feels strong and I haven’t noticed any belt slip but I’ll see about tackling that next. I’m just trying to go from worse outcome of not being done to “eh i’ll just go ahead and replace it”

 

Hammer, 2 blocks of wood, and a deep well socket.

Wood is for not damaging the pulley.
Lay the pulley on the 2 blocks wood. Drive the old bearing out. It won’t hurt to drive the bearing out on the center race. It old, you won’t be reusing. No need to worry about damaging it.


Then use the old bearing and deep well socket to drive the new bearing in. You use the old bearing because it is the same diameter as the new one. I still like to use a deep well socket as close as I to the the same size as outside race when driving back the bearing in.

Just remember, lay pulley on the wood.
That way you don’t damage it.

 

From what I have read it is normal to have some end play at the PS pulley, I recently checked mine and I have about 1mm end play. There is no side-to-side play; only in and out.

There are many videos on youtube on how to replace the bearings if you don't have a press. If you don't do it right, you can damage the bearing. You can remove the bearing by pressing it out from the back of the pulley. But, when pressing it onto the pulley, you have to press on the outside of the race so you don't damage the bearing.

Easy way is to replace the pulley/bearing items. You need one #1 idler pulley (Gates/AC#36174) and two #2 idler pulleys (Gates/AC#36173). Last time I checked, only Febest makes a pulley/bearing for the tensioner, 0187-GRJ200.

To replace just the bearings in the idler, you need 4, size 10X42X13; bearing type 6302RMX. The #1 idler pulley (next to the AC) takes two bearings. Tensioner bearing size is 17X40X17.5; bearing types 5203-2NS, 5203-2NSL, or 5203-2RS.

 

Appreciate the info. My PS pulley moves forward backward left right. You tell it move a certain way and it goes! I think I'm just going to buy all new pulleys/bearings and call it a day.

 

Then, save your old pulleys and replace the bearings at your convenience, and you now have some backups. PS pump does sound shot if it has side play.

 

WILCO, thanks for all the advice!