419-602 Idler Pulley (Pulley Only) Compatible with Select Models

I got it for my ford Taurus but I didn't need it so I returned it for a refund

I put this idler pulley on today, and it stopped the squeak in my 2001 Ford Taurus wagon with 3.0L V6 (Vulcan) engine. I bought this brand because several reviewers said it had good life span, and the price was right. I can't speak to the life span, but thought I'd share some tips I discovered on installation procedure. This is the long version, with anecdotes. So if you're a slow reader or in a hurry, this is not for you. But if you have the time, perhaps this can save you some aggravations and give you the confidence to do the job yourself. It's not a hard job, if your handy. The main problems you are likely to encounter are (1) diagnosing the problem, so you know you need an idler pulley, and (2) finding a way to release the tension on the tensioner pulley, so you can slide the belt off and then on again. I spent a long time watching videos on diagnosing belt squeal problems. I found one by ChrisFix on YouTube to be very helpful. It's called “How to Fix a Squeaky Belt (figure out where the squeak is coming from).” When I first looked at this car in 2014, I heard a chirping sound that I thought was a belt. But on analyzing the problem after I got the car, I discovered it wasn't coming from the belt area. It turned out to be the camshaft synchronizer. It's a pretty common problem on these Tauruses. When a similar sound reappeared a few weeks ago, I thought the cheap, non-OEM replacement I'd used had gone bad already--even though I only put about 400 miles a year on this car. But when spraying the drive belt with water made the sound go away, I knew it was somewhere in the drive belt area. The Good Year Gatorback belt looked pretty good, and the previous owner's records showed it was less than 10,000 miles old. (The car has just 101k miles on it). I decided to remove the belt to be able to examine it and have a look at the various pulleys it passes over. The most likely culprits are the tensioner or idler pulleys. The first problem you face in belt removal is how to get enough leverage on a 15mm wrench to be able to pry the tensioner pulley towards the front of the car, while you slip the belt off the alternator pulley. You can't use any normal-type socket and extension handle, because the space your working in between the crankshaft side of the engine and the wheel well is too narrow. A shallow socket will fit on, but you'll never get the handle in there as well. There are specialized tools, including an $18 one from HarborFreight, but many reviewers reported breakage or bending of this on first or second usage. And I didn't want to spend the money for a better one that I'd rarely use. I found a helpful videos by Mike Green from 1AAuto that shows replacement of the idler pulley, including belt replacement and reinstallation. He's got a lot of clear and well-made videos to help you install the parts he sells. I feel a little bad using them to put on parts I've bought from other sources (but not bad enough not to do it). He uses the closed end of a 15mm combination wrench to grab the bolt on the tensioner. Then, to add leverage, he hooks in a second, larger wrench. (If you're really strong, you don't need the extra leverage, but I'm 73 and not a bruiser.) After a few tries, I got Mike's method to work well enough that I could remove the belt. Then I went through the process of examining each of the pulleys. By far the loosest was the power steering pump. It had end play (in-and-out motion) of almost 1/8-inch. But after googling this, I found a number of posts on Taurus Club of America that said this is normal. So I looked some more. and discovered that the idler pulley made a grinding noise as you spun it. It also had a little end play, though nowhere near as much as the power steering pump. So I was pretty sure the idler pulley was the problem. Just to be sure, I took the belt all the way off (after taking a photo to remember the routing), and started the engine. There was no squealing sound at all, which told me the problem was definitely in the drive belt area, and most probably the idler pulley. The pulley came off pretty easily. It's held on with just one bolt with a 16mm head. Well, I was about to order this Dorman replacement pulley, when I saw a review by a guy who had discovered that the bearing is a standard 6203-2RS (17x40x12mm) . He simply knocked out the old bearing and put in a replacement one for a cost of $3. That sounded intriguing, and that way I'd also be able to reuse the original Ford pulley body which was in excellent condition. But when I went to knock out the old bearing using a 3 lb. hammer and a hefty 26mm socket as a punch, I couldn't get it out. You'd need a socket in the 45mm-plus range (or maybe a piece of steel pipe of 2 to 2.5 inch i.d.) to hold the body of the pulley, while you hammered out the bearing with a socket of less than 40 mm diameter. The cost of the oversized sockets, or of a proper bearing press kit, would be way more than the $15 Dorman replacement part. So with a mighty act of will, I overcame my cheap gene and pulled the trigger on this Dorman replacement part. Now it was time to install it . First thing, I compared it to the original Ford part. I was worried that the surface that carries the belt was going to be a little narrower than the OEM part, as one reviewer had mentioned. But I found this wasn't true of the part I received. Both surfaces are 1-3/16 inches wide. The original Ford part may be slightly heavier than this replacement, but the Dorman replacement feels plenty sturdy enough. The only thing that is going to wear out again is the bearing, and there's no telling what the quality or longevity of that is. By the feel of it, there is plenty of grease packed in there, so I'm not really worried about it, especially given the low mileage I put on this vehicle. The part comes with a brass insert that goes inside the pressed in bearing and sits between it and the engine wall. It looked like an excellent part and had the right thickness to hold the idler pulley away from the engine and provide plenty of clearance. The part of it that sits inside the bearing would provide a nice axis for turning, and brass makes a great bearing surface. I probably should have used it, but as I'd read some reviews by people who said it didn't work, I decided not to. Instead, I just reused the odd-looking washer that was on the original part. This is a steel washer with 3 teeth that bend in and grab the thread of the mounting bolt. I am talking about the inner (closer to the engine) side of the idler pulley. On the outer side of the idler pulley there is a larger, normal-shaped washer that goes between the bolt head and the pulley. Of course, I reused this as well. The idler pulley went on easily. I just tightened down the bolt with my 3/8 inch ratchet with 10-inch handle until it was as firm as when I took it off. Don't see a need for a torque wrench for this application. Then came the problem of rerouting the belt. I found a routing diagram in my Chilton's manual, which is a lot easier to read than any photograph you can take down into that black hole. Rerouting is a little tricky the first time you try. As your arm can't squeeze in all the way down around the bottom of the crank shaft and AC compressor pulley, you need some kind of long tool to maneuver the belt. (I ended up using the 30-inch steel shaft of my longer adjustable wood clamp.) After a few false starts, and some frustration, I got the belt routed right. Then came that pesky tensioner release. I tried again using the 15mm combo wrench with a 17mm wrench hooked into it for added leverage. You've got to work this with your right arm, while you use your left hand to maneuver the free end of the belt around the alternator. Although it worked for removal, I could not get this to go for the reinstallation. The wrench came off the bolt head several times and dropped down onto the under-car engine protector, requiring a magnetic pickup tool to fetch it out. I was getting frustrated. One problem seemed to be that my Husky wrench has a good sized offset. The space between the tensioner bolt and the wheel well is narrow, and the other end of the wrench ends up hitting against the radiator overflow tank. (I had earlier started to remove this. But after removing the two small hoses, I realized you'd have to drain fluid to get the larger hose at the bottom off. Seemed like too much trouble.) Thinking that the offset angle on the Husky-brand wrench was the problem, I tried an old cheap set of metric wrenches I've had since the '80s. These had less of an offset, but the open end of these, where you have to hook the leverage wrench, is just too short to get a hookup. Then I thought of the old pipe trick for getting extra leverage. I knew I had a piece of steel gas pipe somewhere that might fit, but couldn't find it. I found a 20-inch length of 3/4 M copper pipe in the basement. but feared it might be too large and too soft. (Copper pipe for plumbing is graded K,L and M, with M being the thinnest walled). But to my surprise it worked. To make it easier, I duct-taped the pipe onto the 15mm wrench, so it worked like one piece, instead of two. I thought I felt a little bending, but I was able to work the free end of the belt around the alternator, keeping those little finger tips out of the way in case my improvised tool should bend or snap. Started the car up, and that annoying sound is gone—forever we hope. . . . If anybody has gotten to the end of this screed, I hope it helps. For the rest of you, good luck.

Works great

got this for a 2003 astro van and its not a direct fit replacement there is an included spacer that you need to use in order to keep the belt in the original position on the new pulley when reinstalling IF you don't use this spacer along with 1 of the GM factory spacer the belt will ride so close to the rounded edge of the pulley and may slip off but it also sticks out a bit on the back side of the pulley if you use it. i don't recommend using it. use the 2 original spacers for GMs this kit also don't include the push nut you may need to replace when swapping out the original bolt cause it the bolt isn't included either. push nut pack for GM https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CO76MO?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details the new one will be looser than the original. or you can try and save the original but its tight and difficult to remove with out damaging it but if you don't want it loose be careful with the original and reuse it cause if you need to remove the pulley again it will all come apart on you

Working very well.

This is just as it should be: a steel pulley with good, quiet, smooth bearing. It fits fine as the "belt tensioner pulley" which is what it is called. I researched it 'to death', or so I thought, to find out if the TWO pulleys on this vehicle are the same size. There is this one, the TENSIONER pulley and another, the IDLER pulley. Various sources say they ARE the same size and the AMAZON "does it fit" box says: "This product fits this position on your 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee: Upper". Unfortunately that is NOT CORRECT. I TRIED to make it work for the idler/upper pulley but there is interference. The UPPER pulley is the IDLER and is quite a bit SMALLER in diameter than this one listed. The TENSIONER is the LOWER of the two. This is, at least, for MY vehicle: 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 4.0 I6. May be different for you but in any case this IS a perfect, reasonable cost replacement for the TENSIONER pulley. Hope that helps someone.

Worked like a charm for my 2003 4Runner with the 4.7L V8 2UZ-FE, took like 15 minutes to replace and not that horrible squeak is gone! Have a 13mm wrench and 13mm ratchet and slip the belt off the alternator, it can pretty much remain in place.

Perfect fit. Good quality part.

ممتاز، لقد اختفى الصوت المزعج الذي كان يصدر من السيارة. Gmc Yukon xl 2500 6.0l

Compatible con Ford F150 4.6 modelo 1997

This is the UPPER Idler pulley for the Passenger and Drivers side on the 2005 - 2012 5.4L V8 Ford F150, it also fits other makes and models and configurations but since Amazon lists these pulleys incorrectly I strongly encourage buyers to update fitment details to help fellow buyers! I own 3 different Ford F150 trucks, all with the 5.4L so this is based on my own uses for these Idler Pulleys, very easy to change and they are high quality as far a manufacturer specs, Dorman makes several components for OEM applications

Quality part Works well

La use en mi jeep cherokee sport 1999. Le quedó como la original, pieza de buena calidad. La recomiendo.