stronger belt tensioner

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mopardemon340

mopardemon340

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is there any way to make my belt tensioner stronger for my serpentine belt. yesterday on the dyno it was bouncing around alot at higher RPM. would like to see if i can make it strong so it dont bounce as much and this is a new part and has good tension so its not bad.. any ideas
 
You might want to consider a secondary idler to stabilize it instead of putting more tension on everything.
 
never gave that a thought.. just how would i mount one it would have to go between the crank pulley and tensioner
 
any one have or can get a picture of the 5.7 hemi lower idler pulley and bracket.. im wondering if it will fit my 5.9 magnum to stabilize my belt
 
Take a look at the one for a 5.9cummins. They are stiff.
 
Check the bearing in the idler pulley. It will make it bounce if it is a little rough. Hard to detect sometime. I'd replace it before I try to change or add more tension.
easyrider
 
easyrider said:
Check the bearing in the idler pulley. It will make it bounce if it is a little rough. Hard to detect sometime. I'd replace it before I try to change or add more tension.
easyrider
Click to expand...

High load causes the belts to hop on blowers and turbo's as well and when the harmonics couple between the crank pulley and driven pulley up they can jump right off. (He did say it was on the dyno)
Stopping that harmonic effect by interrupting it works wonders without putting more load on everything else with bearings in it.
 
my idler pulley is new.. i replaced everything.. the belt only hops at high RPM and what trailbeast said sounds like the best option. now i just need to figure out a way to mount a secondary idler pulley.
 
I bet if you had never had the opportunity watch your engine at high RPMs on a dyno, you would have never noticed that issue and it would have never caused you any problems.
 
How far is the belt moving/hopping/whipping back and forth? (It is hard for us to judge from the info given.) If not much, and if it was not moving fore or aft, then I would not do anything. There will ALWAYS be a 'least tension' section of any belt (it depends on where the highest torque loads are located) and any tiny bit of slack will show up there. Putting a fixed tensioner at the wrong spot may cause belt breakage, as it can cause some really high instantaneous belt tensions when the belt hits it.

If you still wanted to do anything, then I would look at that new tensioner first; so many after market parts are made with the incorrect springs or rubber durometer levels, so it could just be too weak. Perhaps look to see if you can move the anchor point of the tension spring? Or get an OEM tensioner.
 
it is a new tensioner and its hopes enough that it will squawk alittle. looks to slip at my idler pulley
 
Yes, I read that before, but my thought is that a new aftermarket tensioner may not have the same tension as a new OEM one. Aftermarket parts variances from OEM are quite common....
 
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