In my defense, I would like to point out that both companies never had an ESM tensioner in their hands to copy. Both companies worked from a Dayco tensioner pulley that is made for the Cobra, which is, a direct replacement for our tensioner pulley. David Neibert did give me the width of the wider tensioner pulley that is made for the ESM 10 rib but I don’t think that’s a crime. Heartland wanted to make all the tensioner pulleys and that included the wider pulley for 10 rib systems. This really grew from the perspective of having everything match. Heartland makes a power steering pulley with slots so it made sense to offer tensioner pulleys with the same slots. Really, you can mix and match any part from any company if you choose too.
Anyway, there are just so many ways to make a tensioner pulley so I don’t think one company is infringing on the other company. It’s like that in a lot of things, such as, aftermarket wheels, tires, superchargers, radiators.
I’m not getting after anyone or anything like that. I just don’t want people to think I’m the bad person here for getting companies to make parts for us that are the same part. I don’t even make a single dime from any of those companies’ sales.
So, to iterate, I’m not attacking anyone and my consciences is clear with my dealings with both companies. All I want to do is get companies to make parts for our cars.