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Idler pulley

RedHeep

NAXJA #1499
NAXJA Member
Location
Landenberg, PA
Threw the pulley and the belt this morning on the way to work, luckily only about a 1/4 mile from the parking lot. Looks like the pulley seized a long time ago and has been riding on the bolt. The bolt is very worn and caused the pulley to wobble and work the bolt out.
Anyways, I checked all the parts websites, is there any difference in reliability between one pulley or the other? Advance has one for $18, Autozone's is $26, NAPA's is $15. I figure I'll just go with NAPA's, being the cheapest, this one lasted 16 years.
My pulley has a large spacer pressed in, is this something I'll have to transfer?

Thanks
Josh
 
i think it depends on name brands of the bearing it self. but since the napa in my part of town supplies most garages i would go with the napa. thats weird napa is usually more expensive.
 
That's what I thought, the only other pulley NAPA has is $23, but it's grooved for a different application.
I might end up at advance, though, it's on this side of town and napa is on the other.
 
go oem ('98) mine was about $23 dollars, wire wheeled the paint off just to feel good (new gatorback going in same time).

quality item, sealed bearing replete with numbers...

was there a spacer/washer?!? can't remember, seriously, if there was, no need to "press", just switch out

'nother Guiness job :cheers:
 
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Most of the time, the idler pully has a replaceable bearing - five minutes with a vice, and you're done.

The screw probably wants replacing, should be a common item.

I know the early variants have a sort of washer/spacer/alignment sleeve, but I'm not so sure about the later ones.

Cost for the bearing? If it's still the Timken 203FF (what I had to get the last couple of times,) it's about five bucks - and figure another buck or so for the screw. I haven't measured any of the ones I've got "bagged and tagged" yet, so I can't give you a size offhand...

5-90
 
Ended up with the whole pulley, $18 at advance and $1 for the bolt. Picked up a metric shoulder bolt in a M10-1.50 x 40 mm flavor. The original was 35mm and I had a 30mm and 40mm choice. The 40mm fits with plenty of room.

I would've gone just the bearing route, but I was in a time crunch (only QAR here on days) and the heep was broke in the parking lot. Thanks for the info though, I'm going to rebuild my old pulley and throw it in the just in case box.
 
x99j said:
whats the life expectancy on the bearing? i got 75,000 on one. mike

Varies. I've seen them go 200K or so, or 30K. If you're worried, just get a spare bearing - since the whole job (from taking the pully out to putting it back) is fairly easy and can be done in a half-hour or so, with a little care.

5-90
 
Thanks great idea! next time i'm at the u-pull salvage yard i will pull one for a temporary road fix and put it with my spare serp belt and tools. i can keep the salvage one on until i get the a new bearing for the o.e.m. one. mike
 
x99j said:
Thanks great idea! next time i'm at the u-pull salvage yard i will pull one for a temporary road fix and put it with my spare serp belt and tools. i can keep the salvage one on until i get the a new bearing for the o.e.m. one. mike

If you're going to go to that trouble, just get the salvage one and replace the bearing in it. Clean it up and take it to the parts house - that 203FF number should be good, but a decent counterman can run the numbers on the bearing proper and give you a good number for your use.

You can press in the new bearing with a shop vice and a couple of sockets in five minutes - then instead of having a "temporary fix" in your roads box, you have a "permanent fix" - no sense in having to do the job twice, y'know. Then, replace the bearing in the first unit you replace, and do the same thing there. That's what I did - I keep a spare pully (that I cleaned up and painted, no less) in the box with the spare belt - if I need it, it's there. If I don't need it, it's there - better to have and not need than to need and not have.

5-90
 
The generic bearing number is an 6203-2RS, which is a standard 17mm ID x 12 mm width x 40mm OD with rubber seals on both sides. Very common size. I got a set of 10 bearings from vxb.com for $20. I replaced the idler pulleys on both Jeeps and the one on my wifes Nissan Frontier when it started squealing.

The VXB.com web site is easy to use, very quick shipping, lots of info emails from them, and cheap shipping. No relation to them. I've used them a few times for motorcycle bearings and the idler pulley bearings and was very happy with them.
 
just checked 203ff on autozone,advance and napa's web sites. the bearing is listed on all three sites varies in price from 4.99 to 10.99. the timken was 4.99 at autozone. i'll be stopping at autozone on the way home today! mike
 
Bumped to confirm 203FF worked for me. Thanks NAXJA

Timken_203FF_Idler_Bearing.sized.jpg
 
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