TD5 belt tensioner pully bearing

[bob10]

Just taken the belt tensioner pully off, running rough, didn't get 10,000 km's out of it.Looking at it ,it is two halves of a pully, holding a sealed bearing between them, all held together by aluminium rivets. Anyone removed the rivets, replaced the bearing with a better one, and re- rivetted the assembly. Probably not economically viable, but surely we can get more than 10,000 km's out of a new pully, Bob

[landy]

Hi,

I had the same problem with mine. I took the two halfs apart and got a new bearing from SKF. It was about $20 I think. Just get the dimensions and match up the SKF part number. The problem starts when you bolt to halfs together. You will need to grind the back bolts down to clear the tensionor arm and you can't use the bearing dust washer on the front as it rubs on the nuts at the front. All things considered I wasn't happy with the set up and ended up getting a new one from paddocks. Aussie bought units are so expensive.

Cheers

Nino

[bob10]

Thanks, Landy, checked out the paddocks web site, got an account set up, will use them in the future. For now, I have purchased a new idler pully for the tensioner, don't want to be off the road too long. Can't find the torque value for the bolt holding it to the tensioner,will keep looking on RAVE. Bob

[Chriis Keath]

Hi buy a Nuline pully part no EP249 with bearing no 6203LHA then you can change the bearing only

[Xtreme]

Sealed bearing ???............. Pfft :D

I prized the plastic covers off each side of the bearing, gave it a thorough clean and flush, repacked it with fresh grease and refitted the plastic covers.

Did the other idler bearings the same while I was at it and they've all been running smoothly now for over 20,000kms.

Is now on my regular maintenance schedule.

[bob10]

Sealed bearing ???............. Pfft :D

I prized the plastic covers off each side of the bearing, gave it a thorough clean and flush, repacked it with fresh grease and refitted the plastic covers.

Did the other idler bearings the same while I was at it and they've all been running smoothly now for over 20,000kms.

Is now on my regular maintenance schedule.

Not sure what engine you are talking about, but with the TD5 tensioner idler, often the reason for changing is the distinctive noise heard when the bearing is on the way out.No amount of regreasing will fix this.Also, once the covers are removed off this bearing, I'm fairly sure the integrity of the bearing is lost, not a long term fix, I think.[perhaps a bush mechanic fix to get home] If you have a TD5,I would be interested to know how you rejoined the two idler halves after working on the bearing, it would be good to know. Bob

[akelly]

Yes - I have done exactly what you proposed (split the pulley, replaced bearing, re-riveted pulley). Has been there for over 100,000km, so far so good.

Use rivets - dont try and bolt it back together. I did the whole job in my driveway, took me longer to get the belt back on than it did to fix the pulley!

Much cheaper than the LR part.

Cheers,

Adam

[Xtreme]

Not sure what engine you are talking about, but with the TD5 tensioner idler, often the reason for changing is the distinctive noise heard when the bearing is on the way out.No amount of regreasing will fix this.Also, once the covers are removed off this bearing, I'm fairly sure the integrity of the bearing is lost, not a long term fix, I think.[perhaps a bush mechanic fix to get home] If you have a TD5,I would be interested to know how you rejoined the two idler halves after working on the bearing, it would be good to know. Bob

Engine was a Td5 - done a few of them now actually.
I guess I must have got onto it before it got too bad. When I first removed the two plastic bearing covers there was little to no evidence of grease in the bearing and it had a slight grinding sound and feel as if there was a few grains of sand in it. (see photo below). This cleaned up well in a diesel bath and a squirt or two of compressed air. Bearing was then greased and the two plastic cover clipped back into place without any damage.

There was no need to remove the rivets and split the bearing holder. I had thought of doing this but was concerned about obtaining suitable rivets to reassemble it and still achieve the sorrect alignment and clearances.

Anyway here's some photos of before and after.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2012/04/958.jpg
This is what it looked like when I first removed the two plastic covers.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/06/1347.jpg
Grease in - probably a bit too much actually.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2012/04/959.jpg
The finished job.

I can't see how the integrity of the bearing would be conpromised by carefully removing the covers, cleaning and packing with grease and replacing the covers. Anyway the proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say and these and other bearings that I've given similar treatment are all still running fine after tens of thousands of kilometers.

After observing the lack of grease when I first viewed mine, I think I'd give new 'sealed' bearings the same treatment prior to fitting if I ever needed to fit them.

[bob10]

Engine was a Td5 - done a few of them now actually.


That is very interesting, I would not have thought it possible to get such a good result using that method. Just shows you learn something every day, interesting to see the lack of grease in the original bearing. Thanks for the info, Bob

[bob10]

Yes - I have done exactly what you proposed (split the pulley, replaced bearing, re-riveted pulley). Has been there for over 100,000km, so far so good.

Use rivets - dont try and bolt it back together. I did the whole job in my driveway, took me longer to get the belt back on than it did to fix the pulley!

Much cheaper than the LR part.

Cheers,

Adam
Thanks for that, could you let me know the type of bearing you used, and where you sourced the rivets, cheers, Bob

[akelly]

Thanks for that, could you let me know the type of bearing you used, and where you sourced the rivets, cheers, Bob

Hi Bob,

I would love to mate, but it was about 5 years ago! I took the bearing to a bearing supplies company in Darwin and they gave me a new one - from memory it was a timken, fairly standard one as they had it in stock. I got the rivets from a nuts & bolts place and used a ball-pein hammer to fit them. I did try and fit pop-rivets but they didn't work too well (I cant remember why).

Sorry I cant be more help.

Mine was knackered (probably from running in water with no grease) so a re-pack was not an option. It may be a good option if your current bearing is still in good nick.

Adam

[bob10]

Hi Bob,

I would love to mate, but it was about 5 years ago!/ It may be a good option if your current bearing is still in good nick.

Adam

Not to worry, mate, I'm just being lazy, I'll get off my behind @ do some legwork, the old bearing grumbles like the missus, I'll try the replacement option,with new rivets, although the other sounds promising, Bob

[bob10]

Engine was a Td5 - done a few of them now actually.


After observing the lack of grease when I first viewed mine, I think I'd give new 'sealed' bearings the same treatment prior to fitting if I ever needed to fit them.

Absolutely,just purchased new idler pully & bracket [ clamps onto power steering pump, no ace] , old bracket must have had a pully bearing failure which caused a fair bit of damage to the mating surface on the pully, hence the new one. Just out of curiousity, I checked the brand new bearing, almost no grease at all. BTW , I would not have bothered to check if you had not posted your excellant info., thank you once again, that old bracket was a time bomb, I reckon. The dealer who sold me the new bracket said it was a common problem with the TD5, I too shall follow your advice and check the bearings when servicing the Disco. Bob