A/C Idler Pulley Sanity Check (1 Viewer)

[DesertCruiser80]

Hey guys, hope you can help me out.

I wanted to be sure I have a proper understanding before I go crazy. (1992 FJ80)

I recently had my intermediate coolant hose burst and spray the entire passenger front side of the engine bay. (Hose is under the water pump I believe.) After repairing it, I noticed I had a strange grinding sound when accelerating from a stop. Did some research and found the bearings could have been shot from water damage. So I took the powersteering idler pulley out and sure enough, bad bearings.

I then wanted to inspect the A/C idler. Now, I unscrewed the tensioning bolt, but instead of moving the pulley toward the engine, it took the bolt out of the bracket. I remove completely and the pulley does not move. There is some serious gunk from the coolant spray that coated the bracket and the channel where the pulley travels. I tried leveraging a large wrench from under it and no dice.

Question: Before I move to more "energetic" means, am I missing a bolt or something that could be preventing the pulley from sliding?

I am also interested in any tips for breaking the pulley free. Thank you!!!

 

[paulzak]

Hey guys, hope you can help me out.

I wanted to be sure I have a proper understanding before I go crazy. (1992 FJ80)

I recently had my intermediate coolant hose burst and spray the entire passenger front side of the engine bay. (Hose is under the water pump I believe.) After repairing it, I noticed I had a strange grinding sound when accelerating from a stop. Did some research and found the bearings could have been shot from water damage. So I took the powersteering idler pulley out and sure enough, bad bearings.

I then wanted to inspect the A/C idler. Now, I unscrewed the tensioning bolt, but instead of moving the pulley toward the engine, it took the bolt out of the bracket. I remove completely and the pulley does not move. There is some serious gunk from the coolant spray that coated the bracket and the channel where the pulley travels. I tried leveraging a large wrench from under it and no dice.

Question: Before I move to more "energetic" means, am I missing a bolt or something that could be preventing the pulley from sliding?

I am also interested in any tips for breaking the pulley free. Thank you!!!

You need to loosen the bolt in the center of the pulley. My apologies if you've done this already.

 

[DesertCruiser80]

Thank you, that was it. I thought the center screw only held the pulley to the mount, but it makes sense now.

 

[NLXTACY]

Yeah not unlocking that center bolt is why adjusting bolts get bent