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Thread: Idler Pulley - Where to Buy?

  1. #1
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    Question Idler Pulley - Where to Buy?

    All,

    The bearing on my idler pulley has given up the ghost. I've looked on the forum, and the common suggestion is to order from IsuzuParts.com for the pulley - since it seems that the pulley that is sold by every other place (I purchased one from RockAuto - bearing too big; tried local AutoZones, Napa, Oreilly - all the same thing - did Isuzu tell companies the wrong info?) has the wrong size bearing.

    So I ordered one yesterday - to the tune of $100.00 - sigh. Today I got an email saying my order was declined; I don't know why yet - I sent back an email asking why, and tomorrow I may call 'em - but I think I know why:

    The pulley is likely "unobtanium" - heavy sigh.

    So - is there another source for this pulley?

    My next option, if there isn't, is to purchase the bearing (It seems to be a common bearing) and having a machine shop replace it in the old pulley (which is fine otherwise). Would this be the recommended way to go?

    Another option - though I don't know if it is a proper option - would be to either have a "spacer" machines for the larger pulley bore to fit the original shoulder bolt - or to have a custom shoulder bolt machined to fit the larger bore. Those two options would be a last resort kind of thing, as that could get expensive quickly (though I do have friends with machine shops - but still, time and materials won't be cheap).

    Can anyone give me advice, help me out in some way, etc? Like I said, I think having a new bearing installed will be my best route forward, but if anyone has other solutions, I'm all ears!

  2. #2
    Member Since
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    Really? I got one from Rockauto juts a couple years ago and it was fine. Cant recall the brand so, probably doesn't help much heh.
    Gary Noonan
    '01 S/C VX / '18 Forester XT

  3. #3
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    Third option... PM me, and for the price of shipping, you can have the set of idler pulley and tensioner that I bought locally in 2010, and used for only two weeks, while waiting for my OEM Izusu parts to arrive. They're not doing me any good. I held on to them hoping someone could use them. (I guess that would be YOU.)
    Gregg
    2001 Proton Yellow #1379

  4. #4
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    Wonder if the idler pulley is the same one on the 3.2L Trooper engines? Can anyone verify that? Might be easier to find a Trooper part than a VX part even though they are probably the exact same thing.
    "The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong, it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair."
    -Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless

  5. #5
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    Hey, thanks!

    Quote Originally Posted by Cobrajet View Post
    Third option... PM me, and for the price of shipping, you can have the set of idler pulley and tensioner that I bought locally in 2010, and used for only two weeks, while waiting for my OEM Izusu parts to arrive. They're not doing me any good. I held on to them hoping someone could use them. (I guess that would be YOU.)
    I tried to PM you, but the system said your box was full and you needed to delete stuff to free up space...? So...

    I'm interested, but I want to verify first what you have - because you mentioned "tensioner". What I need is the idler pulley at the "top" of the engine; it's fixed in place with a shoulder bolt. I'm not in need of the tensioner or pulley. Now - if you have a set of both the tensioner/pulley and the idler pulley - well, I'll take both. Can't have too many parts with these vehicles.

    Let me know (send me a PM). Right now, I have on order replacement bearings to swap 'em out - but you never know if that's going to work ok.

    Thanks a bunch - it might be a life-saver!

  6. #6
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    All - found out today that my order was declined because the part is "no longer available from the manufacturer" - they should really update their system, if that's the case.

    I ended up ordering some 6301 bearings off Amazon to replace the dead one - got a few different kinds just to see what might be best. One's an SKF (double sealed), one's a Nachi (I've heard good things about them), and a pair of generic sealed ones from VXB. I'm probably going to install the Nachi (or I might just wait for the SKF - it seems like something I could install and it would take forever to fail).

    A friend of mine has a 20 ton press, plus I bought a few extra tools to help (a bearing puller, and a bearing install kit for metric sizes). Plus there's Cobrajet's offer above. One way or another, I'll get this thing fixed!

    Thanks!

  7. #7
    Member Since
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    I've got good news, and bad news...

    Good -- My IN box is empty.
    Bad -- I took the idler and tensioner out of the box to take a picture, and it was immediately obvious that the tensioner was brand new, but the idler pulley was the old, original part. I looked through several boxes in my garage, but cannot find the "new" idler pulley. Sorry. Guess you are back to option 2.

    Gregg

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