A/C Tensioner Bolt broke

[DocuDude]

Hi,

About 2 months ago I replaced all my belts and A/C tensioner pulley on my wife's 80. The biggest pain in the butt was putting that long bolt on the tensioner pulley.

Anyway, 2 months later and there is a loud squeak. I investigate and there is a huge amount of give on the A/C belt. Finally had time this morning to work on it, so I could tighten everything back up on the A/C belt.

So I removed the long bolt and the nut that holds the pulley in place, pulled as hard as I could on the pulley downward to make the belt tight, then tightened the small nut, and began tightening the long bolt. I was in maybe 1/2" when all of a sudden the long bolt snapped - breaking off inside the a/c pulley.

my wife needed to get to work, so i tightened the a/c pulley nut as tight as possible, and told her not to turn on the a/c today. (did i mention she is 8 months pregnnat and has hot flashes)

so i am scared it will come loose as she drives today, and with the right bounce screw up her entire engine.

HOW WOULD YOU FIX THIS?

my plan is tomorrow morning to get a pair of vicegrips,
hold one side of the pulley as I loosen the small nut. take the pulley off, hopefully it will be easy to pop out the bolt inside (is there a good way to do that?), and then reattach as i did above - using the same bolt...now just missing the first half an inch that snapped off.

I have had problems lining up the long bolt with the pulley, is there a trick to this?

is it just as simple as pulling down as hard as possible on the a/c pulley, tightning the small nut, and then tightening the long bolt to have a nice tight a/c belt? there appears to be a lot more room for the a/c pulley to slide down the metal slot - should it be down all the way? is there a simpler way to tighten the belt?

thanks everyone for you help.

 

[nicholas]

The most likely reason it broke was because you were tightening the long tensioner bolt after tightening the pulley nut. The long bolt is suppose to tighten the belt slack so you don't "have to pull down on the pulley". Once the belt it tightened you tighten the nut/bolt that goes through the center of the pulley to around ~22Ft/lbs-I don't remember off the top of my head. That long bolt won't take a ton of stress and is primarily to just set the tension. Mine is a little bent from a PO, so I should probably get a new one.

Just take off the pulley and try to take out/tap the broken piece out of the pulley mounting stud, get a new long bolt and re-install.

 

[Doc]

You shouldn't be removing the long tensioning bolt and the lock nut both when replacing the belt. Simply loosen the tensioning bolt a LOT, then loosen the lock nut. The pulley will then slide freely on the track.

To tension the belt, simply loosen the lock nut and tighten the tensioning bolt until the belt is the right 'snugness'. re-tighten the lock nut.

I think you're making the job a lot harder than it has to be.

If you're worried about the belt flying off, remove it. You won't have A/C, but it'll be just fine to drive like that.

 

[DocuDude]

DOH

Thanks guys....I think I was making the job more difficult than it should be. I didnt realize the tensioner belt itself is was tightens the belt. (hmmm, maybe thats why its called "tensioner").

So what I should have done this morning was tighten the tensioner belt and I would have been done.

Anyone know the length and demension off-hand for the bolt. Should I order from Toyota or just go to my local Home Depot.

 

[Doc]

So what I should have done this morning was tighten the tensioner belt and I would have been done.
.

Not tensioner belt, tensioner BOLT.

And yes, what you should have done was:
1. loosen lock nut
2. tighten tensioning bolt
3. tighten lock nut.

 

[DocuDude]

Grrrr...I meant bolt.

Anyone have specs on length and size of the tensioner pulley bolt?
A part number, anything?

Am I foolish to reuse the bolt with a broken off tip?

thank again Mud community for all your help.

 

[Doc]

I'd say you can re-use the broken bolt as long (no pun intended) as you have enough threads to fully engage the pully slider...

But I'm cheap like that.

 

[echodeuce]

Anyone ever find the part number or vendor for the bolt?

 

[flintknapper]

Anyone ever find the part number or vendor for the bolt?

Wits End

 

[echodeuce]

Wits End

View attachment 2231698
s

So this will work on a FJ62?

 

[flintknapper]

So this will work on a FJ62?

No idea, you are in the 80 series forum section and we are discussing what fits an 80 series. IF the FJ62 has a similar tensioning device then I would think it would.

 

[echodeuce]

No idea, you are in the 80 series forum section and we are discussing what fits an 80 series. IF the FJ62 has a similar tensioning device then I would think it would.

Sorry about that. I didn’t realize I was in the 80 series section. Disregard.

 

[flintknapper]

Sorry about that. I didn’t realize I was in the 80 series section. Disregard.

No problem, sometimes this IS the forum to get answers...as certain other forums are less active.

 

[mobydick]

If this bolt is the same as for my 89 FJ62 with 3fe I need one now!! You guys say Joey has them at W.E. ?? He just moved here to Medford.

 

[Michael Hanson]

Hi, Personally these bolts are weak, I’ve replaced most of my tensioner bolts on my fj62 s and fj-80. Upgrade to a stronger bolt. Mike

 

[haryv]

Hi,

About 2 months ago I replaced all my belts and A/C tensioner pulley on my wife's 80. The biggest pain in the butt was putting that long bolt on the tensioner pulley.

Anyway, 2 months later and there is a loud squeak. I investigate and there is a huge amount of give on the A/C belt. Finally had time this morning to work on it, so I could tighten everything back up on the A/C belt.

So I removed the long bolt and the nut that holds the pulley in place, pulled as hard as I could on the pulley downward to make the belt tight, then tightened the small nut, and began tightening the long bolt. I was in maybe 1/2" when all of a sudden the long bolt snapped - breaking off inside the a/c pulley.

my wife needed to get to work, so i tightened the a/c pulley nut as tight as possible, and told her not to turn on the a/c today. (did i mention she is 8 months pregnnat and has hot flashes)

so i am scared it will come loose as she drives today, and with the right bounce screw up her entire engine.

HOW WOULD YOU FIX THIS?

my plan is tomorrow morning to get a pair of vicegrips,
hold one side of the pulley as I loosen the small nut. take the pulley off, hopefully it will be easy to pop out the bolt inside (is there a good way to do that?), and then reattach as i did above - using the same bolt...now just missing the first half an inch that snapped off.

I have had problems lining up the long bolt with the pulley, is there a trick to this?

is it just as simple as pulling down as hard as possible on the a/c pulley, tightning the small nut, and then tightening the long bolt to have a nice tight a/c belt? there appears to be a lot more room for the a/c pulley to slide down the metal slot - should it be down all the way? is there a simpler way to tighten the belt?

thanks everyone for you help.

Simple you should have used a torque wrench they not over tighten the bolt and snap it. everything's going to have to come apart and you're going to have to figure out how to remove that Bolt if the broken end is flush with the housing.

 

[lumbee1]

I've recently replaced both the AC tensioner and the alternator tensioner. Both were covered in surface rust and seized when I attempted to tighten them. Replacement bolts and tensioners were procured from the local dealership and reinstalled with a generous amount of antiseize.

 

[ToyotaTechnical]

For those using the search function, part number for the tensioner bolt is 88446-35040