Yeah, I think Furd is the major offender on that point....
1991 Dakota 318 TBI Belt Tensioner made of Unobtainium
- Thread starter DionR
- Start date
-
diymirage
HP@idle > hondaHP@redline
that looks just like the tensioner on my wifes 5.7 hemi
the pulleys can be ordered separate and are either smooth if the run on the outside of the belt, or grooved if the run on the inside
DionR
Well-Known Member
Well, looks like the tensioner is going out again.
I looked at swapping the Magnum stuff onto the from of the motor, but got tripped up with the missing bosses on the front of the LA heads.
Magnum Serpentine on a '91 TBI 318? Without changing the intake?
So I am going do the Gates #38139 swap.
If only I had gotten the 5.9 swap done this last fall.
I looked at swapping the Magnum stuff onto the from of the motor, but got tripped up with the missing bosses on the front of the LA heads.
Magnum Serpentine on a '91 TBI 318? Without changing the intake?
So I am going do the Gates #38139 swap.
If only I had gotten the 5.9 swap done this last fall.
jos51700
Green Bearing thread connoisseur
That tensioner is just a spring, right? What's failing on it?
DionR
Well-Known Member
I think in most cases it is a base or mount, an arm and a spring that puts tension on the arm.
In the first failure I had, the issue was that the arm seized to the mount and wouldn't move to maintain tension on the belt. This allowed the belt to slip off and get eaten.
In this case, the arm is no longer parallel to the engine. Not really sure what the failure is, and it hasn't caused any problems so far but pulling a hill at 3000 RPM is not where I want to have one either. I've got a squeak, too. The YT video in the other thread I link above made mention of the tensioner squeaking, not sure if that is the source of my squeak or not.
Here's a picture of the idler from earlier in the thread. The '91 part is the dirty one on the left, the other one is a '92+ Magnum tensioner.
jos51700
Green Bearing thread connoisseur
Just an FYI, Every magnum I've ever heard had a squeak in the belt. On my 93 Dakota, 96 Ram, and even my Cummins Ram, a little water on the belt made it go away for about 15 seconds. I've never figured it out, and my buddy spent a grand trying to get rid of it on his dad's 2011 Ram. He replaced everything in the system and it was there right on startup.
DionR
Well-Known Member
Funny thing is, I realized later that I hadn’t hear the squeak in a little while. Want to guess what came back on the way home from the store tonight?
Some times this is caused by slightly out of alignment pulleys. I solved this by measuring the center lines of each on my Cummins, ended up putting a shim on the pulley for the alternator.
But you can also solve this by running a good year gator back belt. They don’t ride the groves and seem to work much better
jos51700
Green Bearing thread connoisseur
I used to run Gatorbacks back in the day. Do they still offer them?
Ironracer
Gearhead
Could you not change it to a solid pulley and then fabricated spacer to go behind it?
DionR
Well-Known Member
Do you mean to use the Magnum tensioner?
Best I can tell, the Taurus one is a virtual bolt on, so no reason to try and mount the Magnum one. And I think the Magnum one tensions the wrong direction, too. But been awhile so I could have that wrong.
Ironracer
Gearhead
Ahh Dig it, OK! My Bad, forgot about the Ford unit!
-
