Questions about pulleys

[Chris253]

New to me truck squeaks at idle. Vortec 5.7. help, please. Don't want to throw too much money at this thing.

1. What does an alternator supposed to feel like when it spins? Mine does not spin freely. It's stiff and makes a squeaking sound within. When I spin it, it stops spinning as soon as I take my hand off the pulley. Bad?

2. Water pump. How is it supposed to spin with the belt off? Mine spins freely. A few revolutions when I spin it by hand. No resistance.

3. Idler pulley sounds like a roller skate when spinning by hand.

4. Belt tensioner bounces at idle and fairly easy to release tension with a basic ratchet.

5. Power steering pump pulley has play in and out and makes a clacking sound when it goes inward but spins freely.

New parts: clutch fan, it was shot.
Belt tensioner from O'Reillys, probably junk?
New belt. Solved the problem over night and came back the next day.
Sprayed wd40 on the belt and it quit squeaking immediately. Thoughts?

 

[Lanny]

Well alternator sounds like the bearings are shot.
Water pump sounds fine, pretty easy to tell when those are cooked.
Idler pully could probably be replaced, sounds like the grease on the inside is cooked too.
Belt tensioner sounds about right too.
Im not too sure about the power steering... It doesn't sound healthy but probably isnt the source of the noise.

I would look into a new alternator, idler and maybe a tensioner... Might as well replace all the bearing related items on the front.

 

[Chris253]

Ok that's what I figured. So is the alternator supposed to spin freely? And noise free obviously, but how many times you think it's supposed to spin by hand?

 

[east302]

On your power steering pump, see if the pulley flange is flush with the pump shaft. If it isn’t flush, the pulley alignment will be off and it can squeal.

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[Big D]

sounds like the alternator is shot.

Whatever you do, Do not buy an Oreily's alternator they are the biggest piles of **** on the market. I went through 2 in under a year.

I replaced damn near everything but the power steering pump on my truck (it needed it) and still squeaked at idle.... I cleaned the belt with soap and water... squeaks are gone!

 

[Chris253]

Update

New alternator, new tensioner, new idler pulley, new belt. I felt to see if the power steering pulley was flush and it seems like some of it is but I can feel a ridge with my finger so I might just try to pull it out a tiny bit.

All of this did quiet it down a lot and now it's mostly there when I accelerate. I did notice that all of the wear is on the left side of the belt so it has to be that damn pulley, right?

 

[Chris253]

Update - no more squeak. Took longer to figure out how to use the tool than it did to fix it. I basically turned it pulling the pulley outward until it was completely flush, pulled the tool back off and noticed that it got quieter so I put the tool back on and turned the wrench a couple of more times and checked again. All done. Thanks guys

 

[east302]

Update - no more squeak. Took longer to figure out how to use the tool than it did to fix it. I basically turned it pulling the pulley outward until it was completely flush, pulled the tool back off and noticed that it got quieter so I put the tool back on and turned the wrench a couple of more times and checked again. All done. Thanks guys

Glad you got it sorted out, thanks for the update.


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