So I'm getting this ugly grinding sound from my pulleys. It's pretty tough to narrow it down to which one exactly is making the noise as they all seem to be spinning pretty straight and true. I'm leaning towards the crank pulley, but I'm not positive. Is there a particular pulley that tends to fail on the 4.0? I only managed to find idler pulleys on rockauto.com for sale, so maybe that's the part that fails more commonly?

Also, of all the crap I've done under the hood on this truck, I've never pulled a pulley. Is this difficult? And is there a special tool, a pulley puller of sorts, that will make this easier? And tips on pulley removal would be a great help!

I just wanna get the grindy pulley outta there! I'm tired of my truck soundin like a crap wagon!

 

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/squeal-try-37612/

 

check the idler pulley i had the same thing happen

 

yup, check the idler pulley i just replaced mine. look at the back of it and see if its chewed up, and look on the valve cover and everywhere else under the hood and see if you see metal shavings.(they are very fine shaving and looks just like sparkly dust). if so than more than likley its the idler pulley. no special tools required to change just loosen the tensioner under the power steering its a pain to get to but all together cheap and easy. but its something to do soon before it freezes up and eats your belt

 

Was the idler pulley tough to remove?

 

nope just one bolt and its right in the front so nothings blocking it. i actually took mine off while the belt was still tight.