Aluminum pulley durability

HSKR

Registered User
I've heard from a few people that the aluminum pulleys will wear down over time and become unusable as opposed to steel pulleys. Just wonder if anyone who has been running aluminum pulleys for more than 30-40K miles can comment on how well they have held up. One of my friends has a aluminum idler pulley on his Dakota and it has a groove in it from the belt after 50K miles of use. It's not that bad IMO, but does affect the tension on the belt as it wears down the pulley.
 
I dont' believe anyone has observed appreciable wear on aluminum drive pulleys. Tensioner pulleys are a different story because the back side of the belt is much more abrasive. I know of one person running his blower from the backside of the belt because it grips better than the front. :eek: But he does have to replace pulleys periodically.

In my case I've used the March pulleys for quite some time (since they first came out) and have about 20K on them. The clear coat hasn't worn off of any of them yet and actually since I've deleted the AC my WP pulley slips easily (you can grab a hold of it while the engine is running (!) but it hasn't worn yet. I think the clear powdercoat is a great idea. Obviously March sells a lot of pulleys besides SC's.
 
When I had ESM tensioner pulleys, they did wear down pretty quick. I'm now using Billet Flow (main accesory and jackshaft) and Heartland (10 rib supercharger). After more than a year they still look brand new.

David
 
Back
Top