serpentine belt and belt tensioner

4x4kingx889 · **Joined:** Sun Jul 17, 2011 6:42 pm **Posts:** 235

My belt broke and I think the tensioner is bad but the dealer want's 280$ is there a cheaper place to order them from? also there is no room how does the fan shroud come off?

camo · **Posted:** Fri Nov 25, 2011 10:23 pm

I get my parts here http://www.partswebsite.com/dcjpartsdept and the tensioner part number is 5072440AB ($179). All original mopar parts and quick service.
Just remove the air box and get it out from the side (15mm socket), it is a whole lot faster than trying to remove the fan shroud, as with the shroud you will also have to remove the fan/fan clutch and if you don't have an adjustable spanner wrench it can be a pain on the neck.

One more thing. How many miles you got on the CRD? if it is over 100k miles you might want to replace the timing belt before you have an extremely expensive damage due to timing belt failure.
good luck.

mtgstuber · **Joined:** Tue Sep 13, 2011 4:15 pm **Posts:** 66

I've not replaced my tensioner (yet), but I've done the accessory belt several times. It's tight -- real tight -- but it can be done without doing anything with the fan or the shroud. The trick here is to a long thin bar with a socket (15 mm I think) on the end. I went ahead welded one together, but a few weeks later I discovered you could actually buy a tool designed to let you do this.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Fri Nov 25, 2011 10:38 pm

Before assuming it's the tensioner: 1) was the belt old; 2) do all the "pulleys" spin freely; 3) does the alternator or viscous heater pulley show a lot of red dust; or 4) if you can get to the tensioner does it move freely on the "spring" to apply tension. My experience with bad tensioners is belts come off but don't break as opposed to old belts or bad pulley bearings which cause belts to break.

bigcoupee · **Posted:** Sat Nov 26, 2011 2:02 am

I just did mine, my tensioner was running on an angle, take the pully off just infront the tensioner, 3 10mm bolts if I remember correctly, remove the bolt holding the tensioner, remove and replace, put a 15mm socket and ratchet on the new tensioner, pull like craze to get that new belt on. 1 hour job.

4x4kingx889 · **Joined:** Sun Jul 17, 2011 6:42 pm **Posts:** 235

Any tricks on geting the belt on? I just can't seem to get it on its so close but the tensioner doest go anymore

ebbnflow · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 5:17 pm

Try putting the belt on a heater vent in your house to warm it up a bit. Cold stiff belts are hard to work with.

4x4kingx889 · **Joined:** Sun Jul 17, 2011 6:42 pm **Posts:** 235

thanks for the tip but I mean it seems like the belt is to short to get on all the pulleys but its not its the right one but I just can't get it

papaindigo · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 5:32 pm

It helps to have 2 people but the bottom line is route the belt over everything (including the tensioner) EXCEPT the right hand idler (the one below the alternator pulley) then use the tensioner to relax tension on the belt and it should easily slid onto that last idler.

There simply is not enough slack in the system to get the belt over any pulley with a "lip". I know, we tried.

mtgstuber · **Joined:** Tue Sep 13, 2011 4:15 pm **Posts:** 66

Two people is a must. You need one who can pull on the wrench on the tensioner, and a second to slip the belt on. If you have a thin enough, long enough, wrench, you can get a nice stroke which will pull the tensioner back enough to easily slip the belt on. It helps to have long thin arms too.

Jr_Explorer · **Joined:** Mon Dec 02, 2013 12:29 am **Posts:** 16

I'm going to resurrect this thread from the dead. My tensioner was all jacked up and the idler pulleys had just a touch of play. $250 in parts later I get those all changed out (pretty easy actually) and go to put the new belt on and there is just NO WAY that 113" belt is going on. Eff it. Bought a 114" belt just to try. I think the reason the tensioners and idlers give out is that configuration needs about a 113.5"-113.75" belt (which isn't made). But the 114" is working just fine. No squeal or anything. We'll see what happens when the viscous heater starts adding load in the winter (we have the Green Diesel tune on it and when it's 90 degrees out that sucker stays off).

Rixram · **Posted:** Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:37 am

Since you resurrected the thread, I have a tensioner question:

I had my tensioner go bad. It was ordered from ID parts back in July 2012. It was at an angle, and eating belts. Seems it was coming apart.

Does anyone have any experience with this brand: INA

http://www.amazon.com/INA-Automatic-Bel ... %3Aliberty

Mountainman · **Posted:** Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:53 am

They look to be out of Germany, so I would give them a try. They say that there are counterfeit INA and Litens ones out there though, so be careful. I would look for one from a parts house, not Amazon or Ebay...

Jr_Explorer · **Joined:** Mon Dec 02, 2013 12:29 am **Posts:** 16

Rixram wrote:

Since you resurrected the thread, I have a tensioner question:

I had my tensioner go bad. It was ordered from ID parts back in July 2012. It was at an angle, and eating belts. Seems it was coming apart.

Does anyone have any experience with this brand: INA

http://www.amazon.com/INA-Automatic-Bel ... %3Aliberty

I just bought a Litens from ID Parts. They used to carry Crown but they had issues with them and now only carry the Litens. ID Parts has made an effort to be supportive of CRD parts and I personally like how they put out that effort.

Hexus · **Posted:** Sat Aug 29, 2015 5:58 pm

Jr_Explorer wrote:

Rixram wrote:

Since you resurrected the thread, I have a tensioner question:

I had my tensioner go bad. It was ordered from ID parts back in July 2012. It was at an angle, and eating belts. Seems it was coming apart.

Does anyone have any experience with this brand: INA

http://www.amazon.com/INA-Automatic-Bel ... %3Aliberty

I just bought a Litens from ID Parts. They used to carry Crown but they had issues with them and now only carry the Litens. ID Parts has made an effort to be supportive of CRD parts and I personally like how they put out that effort.

Corey is a board member, owner (possibly former) of a CRD, and employee at IDParts. He has done a LOT and worked with several members on this board to get parts to people who needed them, drive prices, and even do mass-purchase timing belt kit sales.

Good stuff, I have their sticker on my Jeep and use them only.

MM53 · **Posted:** Thu Sep 03, 2015 10:42 pm

I 2 bought a Litens from ID Parts good people

dirtmover · **Posted:** Fri Sep 04, 2015 7:34 am

Mountainman wrote:

They look to be out of Germany, so I would give them a try. They say that there are counterfeit INA and Litens ones out there though, so be careful. I would look for one from a parts house, not Amazon or Ebay...

Yes they are a German company. They manufacture OE part for BMW if that means anything.

Rixram · **Posted:** Fri Sep 04, 2015 8:51 am

Hexus wrote:

Jr_Explorer wrote:

Rixram wrote:

Since you resurrected the thread, I have a tensioner question:

I had my tensioner go bad. It was ordered from ID parts back in July 2012. It was at an angle, and eating belts. Seems it was coming apart.

Does anyone have any experience with this brand: INA

http://www.amazon.com/INA-Automatic-Bel ... %3Aliberty

I just bought a Litens from ID Parts. They used to carry Crown but they had issues with them and now only carry the Litens. ID Parts has made an effort to be supportive of CRD parts and I personally like how they put out that effort.

Corey is a board member, owner (possibly former) of a CRD, and employee at IDParts. He has done a LOT and worked with several members on this board to get parts to people who needed them, drive prices, and even do mass-purchase timing belt kit sales.

Good stuff, I have their sticker on my Jeep and use them only.

I've spoken with Corey, and all of the folks at ID parts are great fellas. My issue comes in that the previous tensioner I bought from them wasn't a Crown unit, and failed inside of 3 years. It didn't even make it for the regular 4-year belt replacement interval.

I also had a pulley for the serp belt fail (again, not a Crown unit) less than a year after installation. So, at this point, yes, I'm a tad hesitant to get another tensioner from them. Tensioners are not cheap. I'm really glad that everyone else seems to have good fortune with their dealings with them.

But to keep doing the same thing and to expect different results seems a less than realistic expectation.

Mountainman · **Posted:** Fri Sep 04, 2015 12:44 pm

If I were you, I'd be looking at the surface where it mounts, to make sure it's good and flat, and I've seen them damaged if you don't first pull the power steering pulley. I've dealt with about 6 of the Litens/OEM tensioners, and all but one were on the road for 8+ years with no problems. The bad one was damage when someone tried to remove it without first pulling the PS pulley.
The alternator, viscous heater, or AC clutches may also possibly cause a "bounce" on the belt, which might wear the tensioner out early. That might be a long shot though, just a thought....

Hexus · **Posted:** Fri Sep 04, 2015 9:21 pm

You also probably have an alternator clutch that is failing, which will damage other components of the system.

You are the ONLY person EVER that I've seen lose more than 1 serpentine belt tensioner.

serpentine belt and belt tensioner

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