Explorer serpentine Saginaw Pump belt issue

[Fair Oaks Mustang]

I just upgraded to a Saginaw pump on my explorer serpentine front end. It’s on a 351 and I’m using The Bronco Guy’s bracket without AC. The belt wants to walk off the back of the idler pulley and the power steering pulley.

Has anyone run into this problem?


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[1969]

How’s the alignment of the pulleys ?

 

[Fair Oaks Mustang]

How’s the alignment of the pulleys ?

They look good. I held up a straight edge the best I could and it looks straight. The only pulley that could potentially be changed is the power steering. If it’s off, it can’t be more than an 1/8th inch too far in. I might try pulling it out a bit and see if that helps.


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[Speedrdr]

find a common point between the pulleys that you can measure to and put a straight edge at the top of the power steering pulley across to bottom of another pulley and measure from the straight to the control point. Then put the straight edge on the bottom of the P steering pulley across to the bottom of the other pulley and measure to the control point again.
It may be that the p/s pulley is tilted a little bit and that’s what is making the belt ‘walk’. May need to shim either the top or bottom of the p/s pump to fix that.
Or, in the alternative, I may not know what I’m talking about. Lol

Randy

 

[Z Bronco]

Shimming is the key. I had a similar issue at first, even though things looked straight. Once dialed in, no issues since.

 

[73azbronco]

shimming needed at mount point, that and might need to adjust where pulley sits on shaft.

had a serp belt drive off back because of shim adjustment, at $50 a belt it gets expensive fast.

adjusting a serp is a very 3 dimensional art. up, down, left right forward backward, and then exact same plane.

 

[nvrstuk]

We just went thru this here on CB as a pulley was off but it was creating BELT SQUEAL that if you aren't a witness to it you would never believe how loud it is.

Anyway, I build (use to) custom acc. brackets and they aren't pretty but my tolerances are appr .020" of an inch at 24" distance between pulleys. You don't need to be that close BUT, I use a laser tool for serp setups that really makes my job easier.

Bad bearings on a pulley can do this also. Not as common but it does and it happened on my rig about 3 winters ago. It was the tensioner pulley brg.

You need to get those pulleys extremely close, so close you can't see it with the naked eye and that's if you are used to doing it.

Good luck.

 

[Fair Oaks Mustang]

I put an angle finder on the two pulleys mounted on the bracket and they are .3 degrees off from all the other pulleys. Not sure if that is enough to make a difference. I'll try shimming the bracket this evening and see if I can get the angles exact.

 

[nvrstuk]

.3 deg vertical?

...and whatever distance offset from the head?

Keep us posted.

 

[Fair Oaks Mustang]

.3 deg vertical?

...and whatever distance offset from the head?

Keep us posted.

Yeah, I'm not expecting a miracle with only a .3 change. And yes, that is vertical. I'm also going to stop by Harbor Freight and grab a laser level to help see if the pulleys are all lining up.

 

[rocknhorse76]

We just went thru this here on CB as a pulley was off but it was creating BELT SQUEAL that if you aren't a witness to it you would never believe how loud it is.

Anyway, I build (use to) custom acc. brackets and they aren't pretty but my tolerances are appr .020" of an inch at 24" distance between pulleys. You don't need to be that close BUT, I use a laser tool for serp setups that really makes my job easier.

Bad bearings on a pulley can do this also. Not as common but it does and it happened on my rig about 3 winters ago. It was the tensioner pulley brg.

You need to get those pulleys extremely close, so close you can't see it with the naked eye and that's if you are used to doing it.

Good luck.

Brian, I remember that day when you kept losing your belt and we determined it was the tensioner. It sucked that you had to bail early, but thank goodness it was an easy fix when you got home.

I run that same bracket, but with an A/C compressor. First I used a York for onboard air, and now I have a Sanden that is basically an extra idler pulley for now but will be used for A/C in the future. I had to mess with the pulley depth on the Saginaw p/s pump as well as shim the actual idler pulley to get everything to line up correctly. It would either throw belts or squeal like mad until I got it right. Just keep at it. Oh, and buy a couple cheap belts for the alignment process so you aren’t destroying expensive ones!

 

[Fair Oaks Mustang]

Brian, I remember that day when you kept losing your belt and we determined it was the tensioner. It sucked that you had to bail early, but thank goodness it was an easy fix when you got home.

I run that same bracket, but with an A/C compressor. First I used a York for onboard air, and now I have a Sanden that is basically an extra idler pulley for now but will be used for A/C in the future. I had to mess with the pulley depth on the Saginaw p/s pump as well as shim the actual idler pulley to get everything to line up correctly. It would either throw belts or squeal like mad until I got it right. Just keep at it. Oh, and buy a couple cheap belts for the alignment process so you aren’t destroying expensive ones!

So I guess with shimming the idler pulley, there is no way to bring it in, just push it out? I am going to try pulling the pump pulley out a bit and see if that makes any difference.

 

[Fair Oaks Mustang]

Update - problem solved! I talked to the manufacturer of the bracket and he sent me a new one thinking that the original one was out of alignment. It did improve it, but the belt was still riding on the lip of the crank pulley. I then pulled the power steering pulley out about an eighth of an inch and that got everything perfectly in align.


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[bigmuddy]

Update - problem solved! I talked to the manufacturer of the bracket and he sent me a new one thinking that the original one was out of alignment. It did improve it, but the belt was still riding on the lip of the crank pulley. I then pulled the power steering pulley out about an eighth of an inch and that got everything perfectly in align.


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Who is the manufacturer?

 

[Fair Oaks Mustang]

Who is the manufacturer?

Thebroncoguy.com I found an email for him on his website. I purchased the bracket from Wild Horses. He was very helpful and stands by his product.