Timing belt tensioner mod with pics

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

I know there's another thread on this, but every time I referenced it, some of the pictures wouldn't show up. I pulled the cover off of the front of the Valk in winter slumber and did my belts and tensioner pulleys. I suspect the belts are original. They weren't terrible, but I wanted to do them due to age. I took some pictures along the way, and I hope this helps some people who want to do the same pulley mod. Well, I pulled the cover, the belts, and the tensioners. Here's a few shots of them upon removal. Holding them and spinning the pulleys by hand, the bearings were definitely past their prime. They were singing pretty good.
              

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

I drilled out the back side of the "rivets" holding the pulleys to the flat plates with a 1/2" drill bit. Once the rivets were weakened, I used a couple chisels to work the pulleys loose from the plates. The plates are robust enough to pry between them and the pulleys without fear of bending them.

             

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

               

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

Here's a couple shots of the OEM pulley construction, and the size difference between the OEM bearing and the Gates bearing. The OE pulley is two stamped sheetmetal pulley halves pressed onto the bearing/hub.

   

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

A couple comparisons.

               

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

And... the final result.

     

[shadowsoftime]

my self, if needed will buy new. im sure you did good work. with new i feel better knowing it wont fly apart screw up motor.

[Bighead]

Were the pulleys making noise or giving you trouble?
If not money spent for nothing IMHO

[wirral_biker]

Good write-up; thanks for taking the time with the pics etc., appreciated.

[luftkoph]

Thanks for posting those pictures Oil Burner

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

Were the pulleys making noise or giving you trouble?
If not money spent for nothing IMHO

Couldn't hear anything from them while running, but spinning them by hand felt dry and not too smooth, and you could hear them sing. Definitely money well spent. After seeing how small the bearing in the OE pulleys is, and the stamped, two-piece pulleys, I'm all for the mod if you're doing your belts.

[Bighead]

Ok Ken glad you are happy with the mod.

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

Had I not known about the mod, I would have stopped after removal and sourced new tensioner assemblies. As a 25 year-in auto tech, I wouldn't have reused those bearings. This mod saves a lot of money vs buying new tensioners. Partzilla has the tensioners priced at $77.89 each. The Gates pullies are $16.02 each at RockAuto, plus maybe $5.00 in hardware. Plus my time, which honestly wasn't more than 1/2 hour modifying the tensioners.

Definitely feel comfortable knowing what's in there now. New belts and new pulleys. I won't have that nagging feeling I did last season, not knowing the condition of the belts that are likely original.

[Bighead]

No I am glad you are happy woth your Mod. But after 23 yrs I have had zero noise or problems with what cane on it. Also sure Bruce bas had no problems to speak of in 700k miles

[Warlock]

Very good mod and write up with pictures. Plan on converting mine sometime this year. Better bearing and piece of mind. Like you said the oem runs for a good time. Just when they start to go they go quick. Again thanks for the write up and pictures.
David (Warlock)

[98valk]

nice post. bookmarking it.

thank you.

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

Thanks to all who responded. As with everything, if it isn't for you, don't do it. I just did the pics because I know some have done it, and others want to. As far as the bearings go, as an auto tech, I've seen idler pulleys screaming that didn't come apart, and I've had vehicles towed in that lost a belt (usually serpentine drive belt; not timing belt) because a pulley came apart, and the customer never heard a thing until it happened. Could they have gone another 45K? Maybe, but I was going to do the belts, so I bought a couple pulleys just in case. Glad I did. If the tensioners felt and sounded smooth, I wouldn't have done the mod and left well enough alone. But they did lose some grease (see pics), and they were singing enough with no load that they may have been louder than I think. Probably wouldn't hear it over other engine sounds and exhaust noise. Who knows...

I'm glad it's done, as I said before. New belts were the real key for my peace of mind. I am glad the mod is a known thing, though. Saved me a fair amount over buying two new assemblies.

[Jim in Idaho]

 
Thanks Ken for the great post.  Not for everyone, but that's OK

I'm knocking mine out this winter, just as you did.

[-mike-]

So, here's my approach:



I used HYUNDAI KIA FU99035 pulleys and a countersink tool for a better fitment of the bolt.
JFYI - OEM Honda tensioners are 110 USD a piece over here!

-mike-

[Jess from VA]

Good post Ken.   

FWIW, Big BF (the traveling Valk mechanic) did that same tensioner rebuild on both my 20yo interstates a couple years ago, along with new Gates belts.  The tensioners looked OK, but they didn't feel OK (and were not making any noise I could hear, beyond normal Valk noises).

He's probably done hundreds, and I'd never done one.  So I let him do them.   

[RonW]

Speechless!

[Skinhead]

IMHO, This is definitely one of the most effective, inexpensive mods you can do to your Valk.  Was it necessary?  Possibly, I didn't evaluate the replaced tensioners. 
Is it better than replacing with OEM?  I would say so, the idlers appear to be better quality than the OEM, and they are certainly less expensive.  $70 -110 is ridiculous for those stamped pieces of crap, and mother Honda is basically having anal sex with with you when you pay that for replacements. 

I have the parts to do this in my tool box, but as of yet, my tensioners appear to still be serviceable.   If I start hearing tensioner noise on either of my bikes, 99 IS - 136,000 miles and 03 - 65,000 miles, I will definitely do the mod rather than replace with OEM.

It's your bike, do what YOU want.

Oil Burner, Thanks for taking the time to write this up.

[Avanti]

When I see oil or grease streaks being thrown out of a sealed bearing by the centrifugal force, it is time to replace them.
Nice job.  No worries now.

[Steel cowboy]

So my question is; do you countersink the plate for a flush fit or not ? I plan on doing it this summer.

[The emperor has no clothes]

IMHO, This is definitely one of the most effective, inexpensive mods you can do to your Valk.  Was it necessary?  Possibly, I didn't evaluate the replaced tensioners. 
Is it better than replacing with OEM?  I would say so, the idlers appear to be better quality than the OEM, and they are certainly less expensive.  $70 -110 is ridiculous for those stamped pieces of crap, and mother Honda is basically having anal sex with with you when you pay that for replacements. 

I have the parts to do this in my tool box, but as of yet, my tensioners appear to still be serviceable.   If I start hearing tensioner noise on either of my bikes, 99 IS - 136,000 miles and 03 - 65,000 miles, I will definitely do the mod rather than replace with OEM.

It's your bike, do what YOU want.

Oil Burner, Thanks for taking the time to write this up.

Agreed  and with Shoptalk pics disappearing, this should help many newer guys that never got a chance to view them. Only thing I would add is maybe nylock nuts, or lock washers. Good write up O.B. 

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

The nuts I used are mechanically locking; like a Nylock but without Nylon. Prevailing torque lock nuts.

I did not countersink the plate more than it already is. The amount of countersink is plenty to allow the bolt to center, and there's plenty of room behind the tensioners that they wouldn't contact the engine behind them. I saw no need make the bolt heads "flush".

[The emperor has no clothes]

The nuts I used are mechanically locking; like a Nylock but without Nylon. Prevailing torque lock nuts.

I’ve not heard of those, I’ll check them out. 

[98valk]

The nuts I used are mechanically locking; like a Nylock but without Nylon. Prevailing torque lock nuts.

I’ve not heard of those, I’ll check them out. 

metal lock nuts pre-date the nylon locknuts.  some of the metal lock nuts are considered one and done whereas the nylon type can be re-used.
some manuals still recommend thread-lock even with lock nuts in critical areas. For those pulleys I personally would use both.

[John Schmidt]

Oil Burner, that's exactly what I did with mine right down to the source of pulleys and the bolt/nut combo. Replaced the belts and done. I couldn't get over the difference in construction of the pulleys. Good post. 

[Grandpot]

I'm doing this mod as we speak.  I had a tension pulley start singing to me two days ago.  She doesn't sing that well either.  I ordered the bolts and nuts from Boltdepot.com.  The was the first time I used them.  Very reasonable pricing and you can order any quantity you want, not like Fastenal where you need to order a box of everything. 

[Grandpot]

I just finished the mod.  This was really easy.  Use the exact parts Oil Burner has in his pictures.   I torqued the nut and bolt to 40 ft/lbs and used blue loctite.  Instead of drilling out the lip on the back of the bearing shaft, I used a dremel grinder and then knocked it out with a punch.

[mello dude]

Thanks for the photos  
Definitely the way to go for the tensioner replacement.

Bookmarked!

[Warlock]

I know there's another thread on this, but every time I referenced it, some of the pictures wouldn't show up. I pulled the cover off of the front of the Valk in winter slumber and did my belts and tensioner pulleys. I suspect the belts are original. They weren't terrible, but I wanted to do them due to age. I took some pictures along the way, and I hope this helps some people who want to do the same pulley mod. Well, I pulled the cover, the belts, and the tensioners. Here's a few shots of them upon removal. Holding them and spinning the pulleys by hand, the bearings were definitely past their prime. They were singing pretty good.
              

Just did the same mod yesterday and added a 4 degree trigger wheel. Nice pictures
David

[nogrey]

Very nice post. Great photos. I’ve done both my Valks now, but I have a question: Even reading the manual for tensioning the belts, I still manage to put too much tension on them and even the new idlers will squeal if you do this. I’ve backed off the tension and they run smooth now but my question is did that squealing cause any damage to the new bearings?

[98valk]

Very nice post. Great photos. I’ve done both my Valks now, but I have a question: Even reading the manual for tensioning the belts, I still manage to put too much tension on them and even the new idlers will squeal if you do this. I’ve backed off the tension and they run smooth now but my question is did that squealing cause any damage to the new bearings?

IMHO no, pulleys are full of grease. The squeal was the belts yelling at you for help.

[RWhitehouse]

I found one of the pulleys slinging grease out on my '98 at only around 40k. It was fairly loose and did not spin smoothly. The other one wasn't leaking, but still felt looser than I'd consider normal and a bit coarse feeling. I did note some light fraying between the cogs on one of the timing belts. Imminent failure? No, but given they were surely the 22 year old originals, and are easy to change, and only cost $12, why not.

Did this mod with the Kia idlers and Gates belt. Maybe $50 from rockauto and can forget about it for another 20 years.

I checked the belts/pulley's on my buddy's new-to-him 01 I/S with about 35k and it was like brand new in there. No grease leaking, pulleys were smooth, belts looked great. Saw no reason to mess with anything. So as usual, your mileage may vary.

[bootlegger]

Does anyone know if these bearings will fit in a GL1000 case?  They are a little thicker than the original but I would assume there would be enough clearance.

[ridingron]

On the Amazon site for a T42015 idler pulley, a commenter says he used it on his GL1000. At $22 vs $70-$110 someone mentioned, I'd give it a whirl.

[nogrey]

Very nice post. Great photos. I’ve done both my Valks now, but I have a question: Even reading the manual for tensioning the belts, I still manage to put too much tension on them and even the new idlers will squeal if you do this. I’ve backed off the tension and they run smooth now but my question is did that squealing cause any damage to the new bearings?

IMHO no, pulleys are full of grease. The squeal was the belts yelling at you for help.

That’s a good point. Thanks.

[psckam]

They look great!