1991 Dakota 318 TBI Belt Tensioner made of Unobtainium

-
i looked at mopar parts giant and they dont show it for 91 after i saw this post. i looked at my 91 d150 and it has v belts like mpg shows.
 
What if you take it off and submerge it in your favorite lubricant/rust remover overnight?
 
Dion can you get it apart and replace the bearing? Or swap parts from another idler?
 
Can you buy a later one and swap the pulley to your style?

That’s what I was hoping to do, but in a word the answer is no.

I thought I had 2 issues standing in the way of doing just that, but in the end there are 4.

1. The later style mounts with a stud, the early one with a long bolt. There is no way to use the stud, the early bracket is bolted to the head, threaded and has no access for putting a nut on from the back. My plan had been to bore the stud out from the front so the tensioner still had whatever it is holding it together, but allow for the bolt to be used.

2. Location pin is in the wrong place. I planned to either remove the one on the later tensioner and ignore it, or drill and tap the housing to add a new one.

3. The later style is shorter in length than the early one. This might not be a big deal, or it might put the pulley into the air pump.

4. The later style is significantly shorter in offset than the early style. With some careful measurements, maybe a spacer could be made to work. Or not.

upload_2019-11-18_21-35-9.jpeg
upload_2019-11-18_21-37-36.jpeg
 
Last edited:
are you maybe prying it backwards?. Just trying to help.

I appreciate that.

The tensioner is stuck between the two stops, so either way I pry, it should move. If I bolt it back on, I can get it to move, but there is no spring back, it just stops when I stop putting force on it.
 
Dion can you get it apart and replace the bearing? Or swap parts from another idler?

I wouldn’t even know where to begin to do that. Looks like one of those parts that if you don’t have the tools to hold it together when you take it apart, you can expect to lose a finger.
 
Best I can hope for right now is to pull the air pump and bracket, swap on the later tensioner using the correct mount and measure for a belt. And pray.
 
On a side note, there have only been 17 views and zero responses to my question on Dakota-Durango.com. I knew it would have been a bad idea to only post it there.

Thanks for all the input.
 
dayco, 89315

or so the interwebs tells me

same thing as the duralast 305315

I called the advanced auto and the autozone in hampstead, both of em claimed they could have it tomorrow
 
dayco, 89315

or so the interwebs tells me

same thing as the duralast 305315

I called the advanced auto and the autozone in hampstead, both of em claimed they could have it tomorrow

The duralast number is the same I found yesterday and is shown as not available on the website. The guy at Autozone checked last night and found the same one and said they can't even order it.

I haven't checked advanced auto, don't always remember they even have a store in my area (kind of recent and not really easy for me to get to). Will look into the dayco number and check with AA.
 
I called the advanced auto and the autozone in hampstead, both of em claimed they could have it tomorrow

Maybe I should have you order one for me, I am coming up blank on the dayco number. I can find it on the web, but everything says "not available".
 
Maybe I should have you order one for me, I am coming up blank on the dayco number. I can find it on the web, but everything says "not available".

the way I went about it, I went to the dayco site

Dayco Catalog - Unites States & Canada

punched in the year make and model and the part number popped up

http://www.daycoproducts.com/part?oe_number=305315&part_number=89315

then there was a tab called (bottom right of the last page) "need this part?" [find stores]

I clicked on that and punched in "Manchester MD" (because I didn't pay attention and I got you confused with @ragtopfury , so the store in hampstead might not be as close as I thought)

so, once I popped in "Spokane WA" I got this

Where to Buy

since the advance auto store told me he could order it directly from the manufacturer, I would call them first

map.jpg
 
is this a dakota sport? i looked at advance and typed in sport w/318 and it came up as dayco 89434 or litens 910556a. none avail for p/u in store. had to order online. dayco over 100.00 w/o any discount and litens is 77.00 w/o any discount applied. i tried to have napa cross the 89315 and it would not cross. if you call dodge w/ vin they could give you mopar numberand also see if vintage parts had one or any other dealer in country has one. if not then google mopar number and see if any nos supplier has one.
 
the way I went about it, I went to the dayco site

Dayco Catalog - Unites States & Canada

punched in the year make and model and the part number popped up

http://www.daycoproducts.com/part?oe_number=305315&part_number=89315

then there was a tab called (bottom right of the last page) "need this part?" [find stores]

I clicked on that and punched in "Manchester MD" (because I didn't pay attention and I got you confused with @ragtopfury , so the store in hampstead might not be as close as I thought)

so, once I popped in "Spokane WA" I got this

Where to Buy

since the advance auto store told me he could order it directly from the manufacturer, I would call them first

View attachment 1715425558

I went through pretty much the exact same process this morning, minus the bit about calling the store.

I thought I found a source at PepBoys.com, until I tried to add it to a cart. Then it just gave me a red circle and wouldn't let me pick the button. Made me think of that old computer joke where the "No" button moves all over the screen when you try and pick it.

:lol:
 
is this a dakota sport? i looked at advance and typed in sport w/318 and it came up as dayco 89434 or litens 910556a. none avail for p/u in store. had to order online. dayco over 100.00 w/o any discount and litens is 77.00 w/o any discount applied. i tried to have napa cross the 89315 and it would not cross. if you call dodge w/ vin they could give you mopar numberand also see if vintage parts had one or any other dealer in country has one. if not then google mopar number and see if any nos supplier has one.

It is a Sport. When I went to the Advance website, and entered a vehicle, it only listed pulleys and no tensioner. I will look at those numbers.
 
is this a dakota sport? i looked at advance and typed in sport w/318 and it came up as dayco 89434 or litens 910556a.

Not sure what those parts are for, but based on the images I found, they won't work. The stock part has a fair amount of offset between the spring assembly and the pulley, those look to be pretty much inline. Maybe they are for a 5.9 diesel?
 
Got the Mopar PN - 4483890. Mopar discontinued the part in '02.

Doesn't cross to anything useful that I could find. Plenty of places show a cross reference chart, but almost every number showed a pulley instead of the tensioner.
 
Oh, and I did call Advance Auto. He said they can't get it and couldn't cross it to anything.

Guess it's time to swap a 5.7 Hemi into it. That'll fix it!

:steering:
 
-
Back
Top