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Is it possible to get the tensioner TOO tight? Like can you compress the tensioner cylinder further than you should and cause too much tension on the belt putting unnecessary load on all the belt drive accessories?
Right now I am running the ZZP adjustable tensioner, on the middle setting, with phenolic spacer and 2.9" pulley and the stock LSJ belt. It was after installing the phenolic spacer that I thought I may have gotten it too tight because that is when the pulley or component noise started.
ZZP adjustable tensioner performance part technical question
Does anyone here know if you can get the belt TOO tight with the ZZP adjustable tensioner aftermarket performance-modification that eliminates belt slip?
Right now I have the ZZP adjustable tensioner, set on the middle setting, with a stock belt and a 2.9" pulley. It was after adding the phenolic spacer while leaving the tensioner on the same setting that I assumed I may have gotten the belt TOO tight putting unnecessary stress on the belt driven components.
If anybody with this performance mod can attribute to this technical discussion, your feedback would be much appreciated.
I'm sure you ,ight be able to get it to tight but it would sure have to be tight!
I run the stock tensioner setup on a 2.8 with stage belt and it has worked great for 20k now. Going to change belts this spring. No belt slip whatsoever in the logs.
About half the tensioner needs room to move so it can absorb belt load
Are you familiar with ZZP's adjustable tensioner? You think if I am too tight that I can drop a whole setting without making it too loose? I have always had my tensioner on the middle setting so I don't really have much of an idea of how big the incremental change is from setting to setting.
I'm sure you ,ight be able to get it to tight but it would sure have to be tight!
I run the stock tensioner setup on a 2.8 with stage belt and it has worked great for 20k now. Going to change belts this spring. No belt slip whatsoever in the logs.
Do you know the biggest pulley you can run with your stage belt and stock setup? I definitely don't have belt slip but I'm not sure if I should maybe drop down a notch on the adjustable tensioner. I'm just afraid of going from too tight to too loose as I am not sure how big of an increment each setting on the adjustable tensioner is. All else fails I suppose I could just try it and see.
Well over lunch today I discovered that my idler pulley did, in fact, destroy itself. Now I just need to find out if it is because I had the ZZP tensioner adjusted too tight or if the bearing was just shot. I bought the part used so don't really have any idea how good it was from the start.
All those black shavings are from the idler pulley. Went from clean to this in 6 miles.
Do you think there is any way having the belt too tight caused my idler pulley to destroy itself or you think the bearing was just shot from wear? I bought the part used so who knows how many miles were on it in what type of environmental conditions.
I'll be replacing the idler pulley tonight if the idler pulley is in fact the same part as the tensioner pulley. I will keep an eye on how much compression I get taking the belt off and make an assessment to decide if I should drop a hole setting on the tensioner or not and report back here with what I find out.
I have seen some people run a 2.7 with the stock tensioner and stage belt but the belt did not last as long when ran hard. I have no problems with the 2.8
while ive been off work the past couple months the shops supercharged l61 hhr had the same thing happen.
Being L61 shouldn't be anything but a coincidence I would think. I am running all LSJ belt driven components. Dimensionally I would think everything would land in the same spot.
Anyway I got the idler pulley replaced last night and I went ahead and dropped the ZZP adjustable tensioner down to the highest (or lowest depending on how you want to look at it) spot. I took it out for some pulls to see if I had any belt slip but the streets were wet and it was foggy so we'll see. But so far so good after loosening up the adjustable tensioner with new pulley.
And thrown into the wrong section IMO. But I'm over it. It's hard to get help on this website sometimes.
its a maintenance problem and moved accordingly the performance section is for making power not my car is broke and you have been getting help
Originally Posted by jdbaugh1
Being L61 shouldn't be anything but a coincidence I would think. I am running all LSJ belt driven components. Dimensionally I would think everything would land in the same spot.
Anyway I got the idler pulley replaced last night and I went ahead and dropped the ZZP adjustable tensioner down to the highest (or lowest depending on how you want to look at it) spot. I took it out for some pulls to see if I had any belt slip but the streets were wet and it was foggy so we'll see. But so far so good after loosening up the adjustable tensioner with new pulley.
did you measure the tensioner length from compressed length vs operational length and if you don't watch it you will kill the snout bearings on the blower
its a maintenance problem and moved accordingly the performance section is for making power not my car is broke and you have been getting help
did you measure the tensioner length from compressed length vs operational length and if you don't watch it you will kill the snout bearings on the blower
It looks to me like it is actually a performance add on adjustment problem. You know because eliminating belt slip is critical for making power. But you can move my threads around all you want, lmao. Like I said, I'm over it.
I did not measure but more went by feel. It definitely did not compress over half of the length. It's kind of a moot point now though because what can I do from here? Is the top hole in the ZZP adjustable tensioner the same as stock tensioner or is it a bit tighter? At this point that would be the only way I could reduce belt tension. Otherwise I have as much slack as possible on stock LSJ belt with lowest setting on tensioner.
It looks to me like it is actually a performance add on adjustment problem. You know because eliminating belt slip is critical for making power. But you can move my threads around all you want, lmao. Like I said, I'm over it.
I did not measure but more went by feel. It definitely did not compress over half of the length. It's kind of a moot point now though because what can I do from here? Is the top hole in the ZZP adjustable tensioner the same as stock tensioner or is it a bit tighter? At this point that would be the only way I could reduce belt tension. Otherwise I have as much slack as possible on stock LSJ belt with lowest setting on tensioner.
you answered your own question an adjustment problem so it was moved to the problems/service/maintenance section and merged with your other thread about the same problem
every time you give throttle input the belt tries to straighten out if the tensioner does not have enough movement and bottoms out(that's why you measure things) then the bearings in the alternator,blower, tensioner and idler pulleys along with the main bearings and front cover seal take the load be glad it was the idler pulley and nothing else
you answered your own question an adjustment problem so it was moved to the problems/service/maintenance section and merged with your other thread about the same problem
every time you give throttle input the belt tries to straighten out if the tensioner does not have enough movement and bottoms out(that's why you measure things) then the bearings in the alternator,blower, tensioner and idler pulleys along with the main bearings and front cover seal take the load be glad it was the idler pulley and nothing else
I am glad it was just an idler pulley. I didn't run it tight for very long, less than a month. I am down a whole notch from where I was when my idler pulley failed. And from memory the idler pulley bearing had more play than I was comfortable with when I installed it.
I understand the importance of measuring I just didn't have a good way to measure the jounce or rebound while simultaneously compressing the tesnioner from underneath the car. I do have a pretty good feel for how much I compressed it when it was too tight and how much a compressed it this time and they are far apart. So much that I actually thought the belt might be too loose. On top of that, I could get the belt to fit before I moved the tensioner a whole notch which means I have the equivalent amount of extra jounce. So from all of this evidence I am able to confidently deduce that the belt tension is not too tight.
Also when I give the car throttle the belt tensioner should actually be taking up the slack on the non-tension side of the belt, not compressing, as there are no drive components on the back side of it.
So it turns out the tensioner wasn't too tight I guess because as soon as it dried up and I could get some traction and my belt was slipping. I remember thinking that bearing was questionable when I put the idler pulley on in the first place.
Alright I bought a whole new idler assembly, possibly the last new idler assembly in the world idk, and it turns out the idler pulley OD is NOT the same size as the tensioner pulley and is actually bigger. However since I am using the tensioner pulley in place of the bigger idler pulley that has helped to loosen up my tensioner just the right amount so it worked out better in the end.
01-18-2017 | 09:48 AM
