Belt tensioner pulley

[SarcasticDwarf]

Problem found and fixed, thanks guys

Have a 98 Ram that I need to replace the belt on (never done it before).

The belt tensioner is on the left side and to test things our I turned the bolt clockwise. That moved the pulley to the right, but it did not swing back into its original position. Is that normal? If so, how would I determine what exact position it should be at when I replace the belt?

 

[bruceb]

Serpentine belt tensioners are supposed to
be spring loaded, so they compensate for
the wear in the belt over it's lifetime. If your
tensioner did not snap back when you took
off the wrench, I would replace it along with the belt.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Yup, the 3.9/5.2/5.9 uses an automatic tensioner, either the spring's broken or it's just stuck.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

So if it is bad do I need to replace the Drivebelt Tensioner Pulley or the Drivebelt Tensioner Assembly?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Assembly.

Edit: you may be able to disassemble and fix it, but just be careful of the spring being under tension and flinging out at high speed.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Thanks guys. Was able to replace the belt and tensioner assembly today🙂