RANDOM SUBJECTS > Broken Idler Pulley Mount. Ford 5.4, Expedition, Excursion, F150 Idler Pulley Mount busted off.

Broken Idler Pulley Mount. Ford 5.4, Expedition, Excursion, F150 Idler Pulley Mount busted off.

May 12, 2020

So I just picked up an old 1998 Expedition. The truck is in pretty good shape. But it had a belt squeal. I figured no big deal as you can get a new belt, tensioner and idler pulley for about $100.  So when I got it home I went to Autozone and grabbed the time belt pulley kit.  Easy job about 30 minutes max.  So I went to pull off the idler pulley and the mount fell off.  This mount is on the upper left of the front timing chain cover.  Just a little 5/8 dia by 1/5 long crap aluminum dowel looking piece with a M8 bolt running through it.  So I thought it shouldn't really have a loot of pressure on it with the bolt running through t  Wrong answer.  Even with the  bolt in it was wobbly and would allow movement on the idler pulley.  So my first thought was to weld it up. But with it being Aluminum no easy way to get a TIG torch into the area.  So my mind went to JB weld as I have used that on a few projects and it worked well. After looking at the bolt and threading it in separately.  I noticed I had an additional 1/4 inch plus additional room to screw into the block mount that was left.  So I go a 2 inch M8 hardened bolt.  Took the broken piece off cleaned it up and drilled some small holes into it . Hoping to give the JB Weld something to hold onto and add pressure to the break area.  Let it sit overnight came out unbolted it and it didn't work worth a damn.  The JB Weld did not hold at all. Finger touched it and it broke back off right away.  So my next attempt was going to braze it with Blue Demon Triple Play .  Cleaned the parts back up and ground a little bit off to make room for the new material to flow in and make a good bond.  So with the Blue Demon you need to get the metal up to about 700 degrees.  Pulled out the propane torch set in place and protected the belt and rest of the block with a piece of 1/4 steel plate.  So this aluminum is some super soft crap probably closer to tin.  Took about 2 minutes and the broken mount started to melt and warp out.  My thought was son of a bitch. Time to tear off the time chain cover.  Looks like about 6  hours of jack en around for a damn 50 cent mount.  I sat for a second grabbed a beer and looked at this shit show for about 20 minutes.  Than I looked at the old tensioner I had and it has the same size mount on that pulley.  So I thought what the hell. I took the chop saw out and cut the mount off.  Went to the hardware store grabbed a hardened m8 2" bolt. Brought it back and ground the head off.  Screwed the bolt into the block and used JB weld it lock it in place.  Than took the mount I cut off. JB Welded that and screwed that tight to the timing chain cover.  It finally felt solid.  So I let the JB weld sit over night to harden up good.  Placed the idler pulley on and put on a hardened nut with a outside cut washer. Tightened it down. Fired the old bitch up and bingo.  No more squealing. 

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