My belt started squeeling a little bit. When I opened the hood, it looks to be worn on the inside, but no sign of being misaligned or contact anywhere. Any one ever seen wear like this ?

 

it is riding off somewhere idler pully, water pump, harmonic balancer?

 

See if your harmonic balancer has separated and is moving fore and aft. Best thing to do if that's okay is to remove the belt and start wiggling all the pulleys.

 

nothing that I can see. I want to get new belt, but not just have have it wear out again.... :-(

 

Another thing to consider with pulleys moving, Is look with the vehicle running and rev it up, I remember A specifically hard diagnosis when I was in class (college auto tech) with a 4runner where the balancer was only moving under hard load, enough to where the inspections hadnt caught it, but the problem was still there. (i dont remember the exact complaint) That one had a lot of stumped angry people lol, the movement was subtle but enough create problems, so look closely.

Also not sure how new the jeep is to you, but have you ever looked the belt over before? Is it possible it was like that when you bought it and the noise made you notice it?

Is there anything that could have slid into contact with the belt while running, or offroading? Check around for rubber splats or marks on anything nearby....not sure what else to toss at you now lol.

Good luck, hopefully you find something!

 

The do what was suggested in Post #3. That belt didn't wear like that on it's own.