Gentlemen

Please refer to this image - top middle



I needed to replace the power steering belt. It was 16 years old and squealing really bad. When removing the old belt, I loosened the lock bolt too much and the whole assembly came out of the pump. Additionally, the long tensioner bolt somehow removed itself from the captive end near the head. I have bolt, a female end and another smaller lock bolt that locks the female end into the pump.

After 4 hours of attempts, I was able to reinstall the lock bolt and the female portion of the coupling device but have some issues. I now need to thread the long tensioner bolt into the female end/lock bolt. In order to thread the bolt I am driving the bolt clockwise into the female end, but based on what I remember and what I am reading, should it be counter-clockwise? If you look at the picture, the long bolt goes to the left side of the female end. Mine was on the right side. The bolt is not fastened to the captive near end of the tensioner assembly and maybe it needs to be. The bolt has a little ridge, so I am thinking the captive bracket goes between the head of the bolt and the little ridge.

I am wondering if instead I need to install the lock bolt/female end to the pump with the tensioner bolt already installed. I might be just misunderstanding how this whole thing works. I am thinking maybe the bolt needs to press against the bottom captive bracket and the female end.

I am off to bed now and will be revisiting this tomorrow. I hope to get it working so I can go to work on Monday. It has been a long day and I had to remove one of the power steering hoses to get at this stuff. I also bumped my bald head maybe 10 times on the front corner of the wheel well.


Thank you

 

Oh wow.
Only advise I have is next time just cut the old belt off then walk the new one on instead of the nightmare you've found yourself in.
Silly FSM.

I wish you the best of luck man.

 

I think I kind of understand what you're getting at, but kinda lost. I only know of the idler tensioner. I think that screwed counter clockwise to tighten. So the PS should be similar.

Btw, if the belt was making noise, it probably just needed adjusting,, instead of changing. That could be done via tensioner. I would let it ride til it snapped.

 

Thanks guys, I have it back together.

The trick for me was to screw the female end of the PS tensioner to the tensioner bolt, almost down to the head. Then slide the tensioner bolt into the bracket between the head and the ridge. From there, insert the lock bolt into the pump and loosely-tighten. From there one can loosen the main PS tensioner bolt to tighten the bolt.

I am also missing my main belt tensioner so I used an ratchet extension to put pressure on some piece whilst my wife tightened it.

The car is back together but still squeals. It might be the main belt now. I guess I will know if the squealing happens when turning or not. I will revisit next week

 

Read the bearing # and got a new bearing from Grainger for about $7.50 ....

 

What kind of squealing is it making? When you go back, make sure nothing seems to be seizing. Could also just need more tightening. I thought I tightened my tensioner enough, it squealed. But further tightening stopped it. If you can do it while the engine is on, that helps

 

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