Finished with the replacement of the Serpentine Belt and Tensioner Assembly!
Six months ago I got the Jeep Agents to replace the Timing belt as I felt that it was due for replacement and could not afford to have it snap on me!
The Agents could not find a Timing Belt so I looked at the number they were trying to obtain and supplied them with 2 extra Part Numbers which worked out!
At the time I asked them to also replace the Serpentine Belt and to check all of the Pulleys and replace if needed.
Ran fine for six months then "Bang" as I was about to enter the Main Gate of the Complex I live in....steering got extremely tight but I was able to maneuver the Jeep into my Lock-up Garage....sure enough the Serpentine belt had snapped!
The Idler Pulley on the Left-side of the Jeep had seized solid but the other Pulleys and the Tensioner seemed OK.
The Agents supplied me with a new Belt but said that new Pulleys were totally un-available!
So I had to drill out the Idler Pulleys and Tensioner Pulleys and replaced the Bearings with good bearings and used 5mm High Tensile bolts and nuts with "Locktight" to keep them in place....not ideal but I cannot find a USA supplier of Jeep Spares who could ship a new Tensioner Assembly and Idler pulleys to me in South Africa....and the prices were horrific as our currency compared to the USA $ is extremely weak.
So I re-tensioned the Tensioner, fitted my modified pulleys and started it up for a few minutes.....I was not happy with the tracking of the belt on the Tensioner Pulley so I ordered a new Tensioner assembly from the Agents...at a hectic price!
Have just finished the installation...with Fan and Shroud in place but I have skinny arms and small hands so managed in the end.
Taken it for short test drives and it seems fine but I really would like to import 2 new Idler Pulleys from the USA for replacement!