I was doing some maintence to my steer s175 today. I decided to take a look at the drive belt to the pump and when I took the cover off I found what looks to be the tensioner disk pointer in 2 pieces at the bottom of the shield/cover. I am thinking I am going to need a belt tensioner is that correct????? I took the tensioner all the way out and the spring looks a little shiny like the pulley had rubbed on it at one time. Not sure but maybe pointer was inbetween pulley and spring and something else failed. what do you think. Or do you recommend a rebuild kit?
I don't bother with rebuild, I replace them. However, it's not unusual for that pointer disk to come loose and spin around, I've seen it happen on a number of them, but that don't mean the tensioner is worn out, only means you've lost your point of reference when the belt is at proper tension. As long as the pulley bearing spins free with no noise, and the nautilus cam/spring is working proper, I'd keep using the tensioner until it's done, after all, they are a bit spendy. If it all feels good, re-install the tensioner, use a long pry bar to load the tensioner by pushing the vertical bar downward and cranking the nautilus cam until it hits bottom, then just slightly allow the vertical bar to come back up a tad bit, lock it down. But if it feels like the nautilus cam snags when pressing the vertical bar down, might consider replacing the unit.
well I cleaned up the tensioner, but my prybar on there and couldn't get it to move, so I took it off cleaned it up some more blew it out and sprayed wd 40 around back side and tried again. it did movebut not very smooth. I am thinking it is suppose to move easier than its moving for me. Unless they are all hard to get started. not sure
Actually, no, they don't move "easy", it takes a bit of "umph" to get the nautilus cam inside the tensioner to pop loose from relaxed. Additionally, once you get it to pop loose and can pry the vertical bar downward, it takes a good bit of pry to do this. That tensioner is an awkward gizmo to say the least, but once you've done it a couple of dozen times you get a feel of what's normal and what ain't.
I am going to ask a question and it migt have been covered before but cannot find any topic on it. Why don't people rebuild the drive belt tensioner?? I found out how expensive the tensioner is!!! I also found a site "loader source" that sells the rebuild kit for $40 bucks and the spring will cost another $40. Has anyone tried it or is it not a good idea??
for us (and the customer) it's all about "down time" 30 minutes to replace the belt and tensioner, VS the time it take to rebuild it.... :drinkup
Same here.