1 of my 3 idler pulleys is different.

[99sho-time]

So the time has come and I hear a bearing in my drive belt it's not as happy as it used to be.
I'm doing some research it appears that some people used the same pulley for the 3 different positions.
When I had all mine off i noticed one of my pulleys the bolt wasn't able to be removed and appeared that changing the bearing wouldn't be so easy. I don't recall what the exact differences were.
The weird thing is the one to the left which is the different one I accidentally installed in a different position than it was. and 1 of the 2 that i accidentally installed in the left position was not happy and it rang like a church bell.

I can't find any info of this to confirm this. has anyone heard of this? cause if im going in im going all the way changing all of them especially after im gonna have to unhook that god awful motor mount
thanks!

 

[SHOZ123]

The bearings are easy to change. Let me know if you need some pulleys or bearings.

 

[luigisho]

Are pulley replacements still available? I thought I remembered maybe some of the earlier cars using GenIII idler or tensioner pulleys as replacements.

 

[SHOZ123]

The Gen 3 pulleys have a rounded edge and can be used on the gen 1&2 where the pulleys are the same diameter, bearings are the same too. It's the tensoioners that are different I think. Seems to me the V6 has some other oddball pulley.

 

[gamefanatic]

ShoSource has reman idler and new bearings. They are odd ball bearings. I just buy the bearings and press them myself.

 

[GEN 3 SHO FAN]

Just to be sure.

Pulley for idlers (3, black) are the same as others (and maybe olders) Taurus and maybe others Fords.
Bearings on these idlers are SHO uniques (IIRC, high tech japanese NSK products, made mostly from unobtainium now). I also found that some mechanics can "restore" them.
Tensionner is also SHO unique (I personnaly tryed to find one on others Fords vehicules but no other had this one, not sure if Gen 1/2 can fit too)
Tensionner's bearing is also SHO unique (NSK, same as the pulley as I know)
Tensionner's pulley don't know if its SHO unique but its smaller than idlers

Talking about that, Paul (or anyone else) if you have a method to change them with engine in place, I will be pleased to read it. From what I know, bolts are too long to allow a replacement (they will touch the frame before exiting their hole). Other than prying the engine from the side, do we have any others tricks ? Is unbolting motor mount will help a lot ?

Thanks,

 

[99sho-time]

hmm thats another time i heard all idler pulleys were the same. somehow i have one different to the left.

 

[GEN 3 SHO FAN]

All the photos I have seen from this side (engine out of the bay), the 3 idlers were identicals. I don't have my photos right now, you can make an image search of the engine to confirm. The biggest problem is the rarity (and price) of the bearings. (Maybe one of your bearings is a SLO one as they can fit there IIRC...)

Is the bolts of the idlers are identical (same lenght) ? (I only made searches on parts, I haven't repaired my bearings yet.)

 

[gamefanatic]

I am sure other pulleys can be sourced, just have to maintain the ratio of contact and/or adjust the belt size accordingly. If one pulley is different and the diameter is different, the belt size would also be non-standard.

It would be possible to source a common bearing with the same inner hole diameter mounted to a proper outer diameter.

Shosource does sell remans as well as the bearings for the current setup.

 

[GEN 3 SHO FAN]

Yes, the originals ones (bearings) are high tech japanese made to handle high rpms which SLOs don't need.

 

[99sho-time]

i think its just a double row ball bearing. I'll likely in future get an underdrive pulley. theres a few pulleys out there with the same size.

im just stumped because when I had my timing cover the 2 identical pulleys that i have when one of them was put in the spot of the different one i had a loud dinging noise and i had to swap them into their original position.

anybody know a good grease for these bearings?

 

[GEN 3 SHO FAN]

Just to be sure.

Pulley for idlers (3, black) are the same as others (and maybe olders) Taurus and maybe others Fords.
Bearings on these idlers are SHO uniques (IIRC, high tech japanese NSK products, made mostly from unobtainium now). I also found that some mechanics can "restore" them.
Tensionner is also SHO unique (I personnaly tryed to find one on others Fords vehicules but no other had this one, not sure if Gen 1/2 can fit too)
Tensionner's bearing is also SHO unique (NSK, same as the pulley as I know)
Tensionner's pulley don't know if its SHO unique but its smaller than idlers

Talking about that, Paul (or anyone else) if you have a method to change them with engine in place, I will be pleased to read it. From what I know, bolts are too long to allow a replacement (they will touch the frame before exiting their hole). Other than prying the engine from the side, do we have any others tricks ? Is unbolting motor mount will help a lot ?

Thanks,

Hi folks,

We recently replaced 3 of the 4 idlers bearings (tensionner and 2 idlers) and I confirm that all 3 idlers and the tensionner has the exact same bearing like Paul said.

The one in the middle was grinding a lot. After replacement, I talked with my mechanic about restoring bearing and he opened it and put some engine oil in as a test. After around 10 turns, he had already lost maybe 30-40% of his vibration and grinding sound. We continue to talk and I kept it turning in my hands for fun. After 2 mins (and many more turns), I realized that he was a lot better and gave back to my mechanic. He was really surprized how it goes better just with some new oil in it. Around 90-95 % of vibration and sound disappeared.

As it miss me one new bearing, I kept the old ones to open them and make a serious treatment (cleaning, high temp grease) to conserve them as a spares.