Hi all,

The old grey mare was running OK until I heard a noise which got progressively louder so I pulled over and popped the hood with the engine idling. The alternator-fan belt was still on the alternator and fan pulleys but was in between the two crankshaft pulleys. The power steering belt was still on the outermost crankshaft pulley.

These belts were installed 2 years and 10000 miles ago by a darn good mechanic and both belts look OK Aside from loose mounting bolts, what the heck could cause this? Tomorrow I'll put the belt back on and start it up. If it runs OK what else should I check?

Instead of merely thinking about all this I just went out and touched the innermost pulley and discovered that it is totally loose. So, new question:

How do I re-install the innermost pulley?

You haven't mentioned A/C, so I'm guessing you have a total of two belt grooves. The rear one for the fan/water pump and alternator, and the front one for the power steering pump. The crank pulley itself has the primary belt groove built into its outer diameter. The P/S pulley is a sheetmetal item bolted to the front of the crank pulley. If the car had A/C, it'd have a sheetmetal pulley bolted to the rear of the crank pulley. You haven't mentioned A/C, so when you say the "innermost" groove is loose and sloppy, it means your crank pulley has come apart. The inner hub and outer ring are bonded with rubber. Once the rubber splits all the way through, the crank pulley (vibration damper) is toast. You can get them rebuilt, but for minimum downtime it's going to be easier just to buy a new one and install it.

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Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Thanks Dan for the quick response. Yes, I have no AC and so there are a total of 2 pulleys.

How do I install the new crank pulley (vibration damper)? I presume that the radiator and fan are removed to gain access. What next?

You need a vibration damper puller, which will have two or (preferably) three bolts that thread into the accessory pulley holes through the face of the damper, and a central threaded shank that is turned down. When the shank's end contacts the crankshaft snout, and you carry on turning, the damper will be pulled off the crank.

To install the new damper, you'll need a bolt and flatwasher as described in this post. Just tighten the bolt until it stops — you can sight along the water pump pulley to see when the crank pulley's nearly pulled into alignment...be sure to keep your eye on the crank pulley, though, not the accessory P/S pulley bolted onto the front of the crank pulley. You can leave the bolt and washer in place; it won't hurt anything.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.