I can see all of that and agree. I come across as a hard ass about things sometimes because I have to do things that last. I am a tech and I charge people, therefore I have to do it the best and longest lasting way possible, I cannot and will not risk losing a customer. But yeah on a rust bucket farm truck or something like that, a bandaid is par for the course. And again, I don't care what people do to their own cars but it is frustrating to see people recommend half ass things to people on these forums as the proper way to fix things. You did not do that you stated straight up what it was and that's cool as a cucumber.

And yeah some belts are harder. But for me, a couple hours of my time every few years or 20 minutes of my time every month for years... I do get what you're saying completely though.

I called him a dipshit in a supportive manner lol. Like cmon buddy, ya dipshit. Haha.

But you ran into what i've seen a lot. It's real easy to get the power steering pulley in the wrong spot, it's a design that annoys the absolute shit out of me. Tons of cars out there have bolt on ps pulleys, but a few of the domestics love their press on pulleys and it's gay as can be. Then you have other press on pulleys on the same engine like the crank pulley but it stops when it's in the right spot.. They couldn't build a lip on the pulley or something for it to bottom out on and keep this crap from happening? Engineers man..

As an engineer myself, it too annoys the hell of of me that the pulley must be pressed on to some certain depth instead of a fixed flange that a pulley could be bolted onto. And it doesn't take much by way of misalignment of the belt before it starts chirping like a dry bearing. I'm sure a lot of people have thrown pulleys and tensioners at the system in a shotgun and expensive manner trying to quiet things down.

Anything and everything is permissible in this situation, lol.

Moving this as a 99 T/A is Gen III, not IV and maybe some of the guys on that forum will enjoy this thread ...:nod:

Looks like it got moved back....

I hear you as I was a tech for a good while. Just for info. I recently got a turn one P/S pump. Came assembled with their pulley. Installed it & belt alignment perfect. Lol. I was actually thinking it might not be at correct alignment when installing.

As an engineer I'm sure you can see where someone dropped the ball on the design. It's not hard to see that tons of people are gonna goof up the depth placement of the pulley. Yes i'm sure tons of people have wasted tons of money on that. That design has been around for what, over 50 years?

That's awesome the turn one comes with the pulley installed, and to the right depth. Not all heros wear capes!

Belts age even if not in use,, check your date codes when you buy them.. (Just like tires... )
I won't take a belt more than 1 year old.

FWIW,, my Jeep has no tensioner and you have to bring the serpentine up to full tension then recheck after the first hundred miles, You will not get it right without a belt tension gauge.. Don't use a gage and I almost guarantee a squeaky belt in a few hundred miles. The Gatorback belts have good bones, you can tighten them up and they stay , very little stretch.

IN a pinch ,, I have actually soaked a belt down with WD40 (Has to be running)
it will soften the rubber enough to drive for a week or so, basically long enough to get a new belt.. :)
The solvents soften the rubber a little and give it back some grip.
On my jeep once the belt squeaks its over.. No amount of tightening will make it stop.
When properly adjusted I get about 30K out o f a belt.

Fixed . Somehow mistyped and threw in an extra "not"