Alternator Idler Pulley,

[RavenTai]

At some point in my 80's life somebody removed the alt idler pulley, got a new one in and put it in yesterday but it does not seam to line up with the belts very well, looks about 1/4” off, tne belts ride on the very edge of the pulley I am thinking about stacking some washers behind it


is there suppose to be a spacer of some kind behind it? or is this normal?

 

[landtank]

Should just bolt right on. How do the belts look as far as alignment to the block? Do you have a factory alternator?

 

[e9999]

IIRC, my belts are smack on in the middle of the idler pulley lands. Isn't there some sort of non-slip material in the middle of these anyway that suggests the belts should be in the middle?
E

 

[e9999]

here, since you're one of the good guys (see other thread) I went and took a photo of mine. Looks like this brownish layer on it is some sort of non-slip material, but not sure, could be residue from an earlier belt.
HTH
Eric
edit: these are new belts as of 20 miles ago, but as you can see, the one closest to the block shows a mark (from earlier likely) right in the middle of its land. The other one is slightly off but not 1/4".

 

[RavenTai]

the alt is a rebuilt (installed by PO's mechanic) Bosch part # AL3270X on the tag, it appears to be the right one the wires connect nicely it even has the hole in the cover for the wire bundle clip

I took a look at the belts it is hard to get a look down the belts from the alt end because of the battery and distributor but from what I can see (not enough) it looks aligned

I tried to take a measurement of the pulley position that someone could compare to a known good alt but I cannot get anything in there

Eric, Thanks for the pic , mine is defiantly off way more than that, the new pulley was just cadmium plated steel your line there is defiantly from the belts and shows they always ride in the middle

I guess I will shim it in the mean time and look for a deal on a new Alternator

 

[landtank]

You might want to pull the pan from underneath to get a better view of the alignment. Sopunds to me that the PO had a mechanic who saw that the re was an issue and threw away the idler. You'll most likey have to repair his repair to get everything back properly.

 

[e9999]

RT, sure sounds like your alt could be off-kelter.
Take the battery and tray off, 2 mins job, you might be able to see better.
If it's really off, that should not be good for the belts either, I would think...
E

 

[e9999]

RT, I went and put a straight ruler against both the front faces of the idler pulley and of the alternator pulley. (These appear to be in the same vertical plane perpendicular to the engine, btw, with the ruler flat on both.) The ruler further down ends up just about right in the middle of the thickness of the flange separating the middle belt from the A/C one on the main pulley. Everything looks aligned on mine, that I can tell.
HTH
Eric
add: the width of the idler pulley is 30mm on mine. When you look at it from the front, there is a metal surface immediately at 9oclock, part of the block and somewhat prominent. Well the back side of the pulley is only 2mm in front from that surface, or IOW, there is 2mm clearance between the back of the pulley and the front of the block.
Also, if I put a straight edge between the front face of the water pump pulley and the front face of the alt pulley, it looks perfectly parallel to the front of the body and perpendicular to the engine.
HTH

 

[RavenTai]

[quote author=e9999 link=board=2;threadid=16442;start=msg157999#msg157999 date=1084724694]
RT, I went and put a straight ruler against both the front faces of the idler pulley and of the alternator pulley. (These appear to be in the same vertical plane perpendicular to the engine, btw, with the ruler flat on both.) The ruler further down ends up just about right in the middle of the thickness of the flange separating the middle belt from the A/C one on the main pulley. Everything looks aligned on mine, that I can tell.
HTH
Eric
add: the width of the idler pulley is 30mm on mine. When you look at it from the front, there is a metal surface immediately at 9oclock, part of the block and somewhat prominent. Well the back side of the pulley is only 2mm in front from that surface, or IOW, there is 2mm clearance between the back of the pulley and the front of the block.
Also, if I put a straight edge between the front face of the water pump pulley and the front face of the alt pulley, it looks perfectly parallel to the front of the body and perpendicular to the engine.
HTH
[/quote]

Eric that helps a lot, great idea , I put the strait edge on the water pump pulley and sighting off the front of the valve cover it checks out square, the idler pulley is a little bit wider than my 1" wide ruler so it is about 30MM, the gap to the oil pump cover at 9-o-clock looks like less than 1/8” so about 2mm, a straight edge on just the idler lands out in the middle of the divider on the crank so the idler checks out good,

I put the ruler on the face of the alt and idler pulleys and they do not match, the alt being further forward since the idler checks out good it must be the Alt

LandTank, yep that is probably what happened, the PO was a 'well to do' single soccer mom, very nice person but did not know anything about cars and I am sure the mechanic new he could get away with it, now I need to price out alt's see how much it is going to hurt to make it right

does the 1fz share alt with any other Toyota trucks? I can get a used alt from a wrecked 4 runner or Tacoma all day long junked/wrecked LC/LX's are not available

 

[landtank]

If you go used on the alternator be sure to check/replace the brushes. They are cheap and quite a few lately have needed to replace them.