Squeaking pulley? Don't replace it. Regrease it! *pics*
 

So my a/c idler pulley started squealing on me again recently. I just replaced it a year or so ago for the same problem. Instead of shelling out another $40 for a new pulley, I decided to try my hand at repacking the bearings first. Since the pulley was already screwed up and making noise anyway, I figured that if I destroyed the bearings I'd just go ahead and replace it.

Here's the pulley itself. The bolt is a torx t50. I couldn't find that size listed in any of the searches I tried here or elsewhere, so hopefully it will help someone out. The rest of the pulleys use a 15mm bolt; not really sure why GM chose to use a torx bolt on the a/c idler pulley.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y20...y/IMG_0803.jpg

The bearing seal comes off pretty easily. Just pry on the inside with a small flathead screwdriver and it'll pop right out.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y20...y/IMG_0805.jpg

Here are the actual bearings. As you can see, they're completely dry and when it rains or gets humid out, moisture gets in and you get your squeaks and squeals. After a while, that condition becomes permanent until the bearings are repacked or the pulley replaced.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y20...y/IMG_0807.jpg

Repacking the bearings can be a messy job, but if you use enough grease the pulley will stay quiet even longer than it did when it was new out of the box. They use minimal grease from the factory which is why even the replacements start making noise after a year or two.

Just get some grease on your finger and push it in, working your way around. When you turn the bearing, and grease begins to weep out of the back side of the bearing race, you've got enough in there.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y20...y/IMG_0808.jpg

Now you can reassemble the pulley. The seals slip right back into place, just push it down in one spot until it pops down into the groove, then work your way around until it's completely seated. Once you have the seals on both sides, rotate the bearing several times and wipe off any excess grease that may ooze out from under the seals; don't want that getting on your belt or splattering around on your motor.

Here's the finished product ready to be reinstalled. This will work to quiet down the other idler pulley and your tensioner pulleys as well. A lot cheaper than replacing them, and it only takes a few minutes.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y20...y/IMG_0810.jpg

Nice! Love this board for innovation!

Great post :)

I did not know this.... Good info!!

I'm definately trying this as my 2nd pulley started making noise again.

Damn straight! That's the kind of thing I like seeing on this board! Good job to ya...

Thanks for the comments all :)

Hopefully the pics aren't too bright to see most of the important stuff. My camera isn't the best, and I'm no photographer :jest:

Great post. One of my pullies is getting a little noisy and now I'm much more motivated to find out which one it is. I really wasn't looking forward to wasting money on a pulley. If I did that I might bankrupt the oil companies since they need every spare dime I have. As we all know they are in such a bad way right now. With their low inventories, offline refineries, and just dismal profits and what not I'd almost feel guilty for the luxury of a new, quiet pulley. Now I don't have to feel so guilty.

doin' this tomorrow. Thanks for the info.

Josh

Post back with your results :)

What's 93 cost you up there? I think I paid 3.25 yesterday.

How did you know it was the A/C pulley? My car started doing this and I can't tell which one is sqeaking. What kind of grease did you use?

Thanks,great post! I am a guy on limited funds and really appreciate this info.

Great idea, nice work.

Here's a question: what's the easiest way to determine which pulley is making noise? I get a little bit of noise sometimes that sounds like a pulley.

I could tell it was coming from down there. I took the belt off and spun them both. Doing that it's pretty easy to tell which one is causing it. That being said, I went ahead and did both. Pretty much any bearing grease should work I'd think. I just used Valvonline multipurpose wheel bearing grease because that's what I had.

Take the belts off and spin/turn them all by hand.

taintedmeat.....Where can you buy the ac idler pulley at? I went to advance and they cant get it for me , they can get the whole assembly but not just the pulley?? I need a new the pulley and ill load it with grease like you did above .....by the way this is a sweet find and a deff $$ saver!!

On my car, the a/c idler and the tensioner pulleys are exactly the same. Not sure if that's how it's supposed to be, but it's working :confused:

The a/c tensioner pulley you can get from Napa, but when I replaced mine I ordered it from GMPD.

I still have my old pully after changing it. I think I'll do this later just to have a spare. :jest:

Hope I didn't throw it out after cleaning the garage 2 weeks ago. :bang: