Aluminum idlers (Daspanka, Ken, etc.)

95_XR7

95_XR7

Registered User
I know Daspanka, and I believe Ken are both running aluminum idlers.
I noticed you guys were worried about the longevity of the idlers, and Daspanka was having problems with aluminum dust.

Would you guys recommend these to a car that sees many more miles than both of your cars, or is it just better to get the steel idlers.
 
I run them, and the only problem with them is the bearing isn't press fit, or glued in at all. They're just held in with a snap ring. The outer race of the bearing wallers out the ID of the idler, which makes the pulley wobble when bolted down.
 
CMac89 said:
I run them, and the only problem with them is the bearing isn't press fit, or glued in at all. They're just held in with a snap ring. The outer race of the bearing wallers out the ID of the idler, which makes the pulley wobble when bolted down.
Click to expand...

What do you think about...

Machining the ID of the idler, and possibly press fitting a bigger bearing in?
Or, anodizing the pulley, making sure to get the ID, and then press fit the bearing back in. The extra .01 or however much should make a nice fit, correct?
 
Ive had nothomng but problems with them. All makes and brands. C clips, pins...I perfer new plastic ones or steel
 
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the idea of C-Clips being used.
However, they may look better.
I'm debating on just getting the steel pulley's, and powder coating them. I'm unsure how hard the bearings would be to press out though.

I can either machine the aluminum ones for a bigger bearing, or just powder coat the steel ones.\


Just noticed, I'm not seeing the aluminum pulley's. Perhaps I'm just looking past them? =/
 
If you do try to get aluminum pulleys make sure they are HARD COAT ANODIZED....not standard anodized but hardcoated...EVen ones ive used in which thebearings didnt fail they wore prematurely
 
You can make it press fit, that's fine. Aluminum is too malleable for the belts. Not only that, the oxidation gets all over the belts.
 
The basic problem is the bearing are made from steel and the pulley is AL. The 2 materials have a different thermal coefficent of expansion. As soon as the AL gets hot the bearing is loose.
 
The best aluminum pullies I have seen are retained with radially positioned set screws in addition to spring ring similar to what you see on floating pins to retain them. They have the belt surface hard coated. Unfortunately I haven't seen any of these in a size that'll work for us.

Personally, I think I'm sticking to the dayco steel units.
 
I was going through the stock Ford steel idler pulleys on my DOHC XR7 like they were going out of style. The problem I was having was that the bearings would begin to fail and start chirping/squealing. I switched over to the pulley pictured below from wazeepulleys.com, and haven't had any issues with it at all. No bearing issues, no wobbles, no aluminum dust, etc. It's made out of 6061 T-6 aluminum. One thing I like about it is that if I do end up burning up the bearing, I can just change the bearing out, rather than having to purchase a whole new pulley.

It looks like the only pulley they offer for the SC's is a tensioner pulley though.

-Rod
 

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I've had a set of BilletFlow aluminum pulleys on my SC for about 4 years...still look brand new. Bearing is retained with a setscrew. The bad news is...BilletFlow quit making them :(

David
 
I cant put a lot of input on the alum idlers. I have not log that many miles on them due to engine malfunctions last year. They are still in perfect shape but with low miles on them I cant tell how they will be once I start driving the car more miles.

Ken
 
I have Heartland aluminums on my 94 with around 5k on them and I lost the bearing in one last spring. The belt surfaces of the surviving two have some wear on them also.
I would just use the steel idlers on a daily driver.
 
racecougar said:
I
...
I switched over to the pulley pictured below from wazeepulleys.com, and haven't had any issues with it at all. No bearing issues, no wobbles, no aluminum dust, etc. It's made out of 6061 T-6 aluminum. One thing I like about it is that if I do end up burning up the bearing, I can just change the bearing out, rather than having to purchase a whole new pulley.

It looks like the only pulley they offer for the SC's is a tensioner pulley though.

-Rod
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did you bump up to their ceramic bearing? I've been looking at them and was curious if that would be an advantage.
 
I'm not sure if it has any ceramic in it or not, but I am running the bearing that came with the pulley, and I have a couple extras here somewhere.

-Rod
 
How hard is it to press out the bearings in the steel pulleys?
I'm looking at powdercoating them at school if I go that route.
 
Pulley

I'm using steel pullies from Advance Auto Parts.......# 1906 4 seasons 45979.

They may take more effort to spin, but no aluminum dust and much less wear.
 
Aluminum idlers = saddness :(

As bad as I hate to say it, you should probably avoid them unless you can find some hard anodized like Damon was suggesting. Mine have less than 1k miles and they are already starting to wear visibly and form groves in the pulley surface. After a 200 mile road trip, my entire engine compartment is covered in aluminum dust. Even if the bearings don't fail (which I'm told they probably will) I'm very displeased with them. I'm going to try coating the belt surfaces of mine with POR Glisten PC. Which is a very hard but flexible urethane coating which is also water clear. It is harder than the belt and should stand up to the abrasion. We'll see....

Daspanka
 
Daspanka said:
As bad as I hate to say it, you should probably avoid them unless you can find some hard anodized like Damon was suggesting. Mine have less than 1k miles and they are already starting to wear visibly and form groves in the pulley surface. After a 200 mile road trip, my entire engine compartment is covered in aluminum dust. Even if the bearings don't fail (which I'm told they probably will) I'm very displeased with them. I'm going to try coating the belt surfaces of mine with POR Glisten PC. Which is a very hard but flexible urethane coating which is also water clear. It is harder than the belt and should stand up to the abrasion. We'll see....

Daspanka
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I wish I would have known this before. I assume the aluminum idlers I bought are junk. I wanted them because they look good but I guess that was stupid. Is there a way to have them anodized after or does that have to happen during production.
 
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