1armyguy

I was wondering if anyone has replaced the idler pulley on their cherokee? It's the pulley that is under the power steering pump. I have a 98. I called the parts store and they said it's a dealer item. The dealer is saying I need to replace the tensioner and pulley together. Is this true or can I just replace the pulley?

Thanks for the help.

Wayne

lambo

I just did mine on 96xj the pulley under the power steering pump is the tension pulley. loosen the bolt on the pulley then loosen the bolt that is on the topside of pulley bracket just to the left of power steering pump. This will loosen the tension on the belt to remove it. Now when you take off the pulley a thick washer might drop so catch it and reuse. reassemble like this. Put bolt threw pulley, then the thick washer, thread into tensioner bolt but just till it is snug, tighten the tensioner bolt till you can not turn the power steering pulley by hand, then loosen the tension just until you can turn the power steering pulley with some resistance, this should give you the rite tension without squeal. then tighten the tension pulley to spec torque. If you start it and have a squeal you need to loosen the bolt on the pulley and adjust the tension bolt to either loosen or tighten the belt,[ they are picky] and then tighten the pulley again. The tension bolt will not work unless you loosen the pulley bolt so dint try to just turn the tension bolt to adjust without loosening the pully first,. Hope this help

g19n87r

can you over tighten the bolt for the pulley

bobvalli

The top bolt, you'd prolly break the belt first.

The front bolt.....yeah, I made sure I was careful with that one.

g19n87r

yeah i know the top bolt to adjust the tension is kinda common sense but with the front I didnt know how tight to go

1armyguy

Thank you, I didn't realize you had to loosen up the pulley bolt to adjust the belt tension. I replaced my belt without doing that before. But, I will be sure to keep it a bit loose while adjusting the belt now.

Thanks again,

Wayne

bobvalli

I looked but couldn't find the torque spec. If I find it, I'll post it.

rgs80074

hello everyone


I hate to resurrect an old thread, but I am having issues with my idler pulley and I had always wondered if there was supposed to be a washer behind it. Everytime some one looks at it they say the pulley is bad (makes noise when running) but I can't keep getting bad pulleys over and over and it made me wonder. New ones don't seem to come with the washer or bolt and its never had a washer on it but it seemed to me that a washer behind if would keep it just enough out from the bracket to avoid it rubbing against it.

any idea what size of washer is needed?

96 jeep grand cherokee limited 4.0 engine.

thanks

ryan

Ralph77

Well for starters you are in the XJ section and would probably get a better answer in the ZJ section.
But I happen to have some ZJ parts catalogs.
So it appears there are 2 pulleys. With "washers" behind them. One they do call a spacer though.
Unfortunately they do not give the specs of them. But there are part numbers so.....

SGTSnacks

Is there a parts breakdown for this area?
I just received a new idler pulley and it did NOT come with a washer or collared insert.
Be nice to see what the Jeep parts schematic shows.

Cheers,
SGTSnacks

Saudade

You can go here:

https://www.moparpartsgiant.com/

Enter the fields for your year/model and look under the Cooling section