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Idler pulleys
Getting ready for trip and I could hear a dry bearing sound from Idler Pulleys removed belt and spun pulley and they both sounded dry. Pulled off from engine removed pulleys and drove out both bearings and I will check with local bearing house and Prevost had 2 different part #’s he said 1 was cheaper and other 1 was better and took heat better the better was in stock and around $75 bucks apiece.?????
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15 Replies
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You may not be able to get just the bearings from Detroit, they will only sell you the entire assembly. I found the bearings at a local bearing shop and pressed them in and out with no problem.
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This is an idler pulley between the alternator and a/c compressor for dash air on a 2010 H. My friend was lucky because she was able to pull into a camp ground in Idaho. The only warning she got was a quick engine check light pulling into the campground.
When she went to the back of the bus and opened the door she was greeted with sparks and scrapping noise. She is a TX Horse woman more than capable to handle her bus, she sent some good pictures and we determined it was probably just the pulley.
This happened on a Friday evening and Prevost Pass and I found the same Detroit dealer in Boise an hour away. They advertised 24/7 on call and never responded until Monday morning. No Pulley was located in the USA, didn’t want to repack the bearings if we could find them because the pulley was running kalleywampuss so had to wait on Prevost Canada to send a pulley. They were on Holiday Monday so Tues they sent one and Wed she got out of Dodge.
On one hand she was lucky the belts didn’t fly off and nothing seized but it cost her 5 days. This is a luck of the draw item that should be checked but is taken for granted.
Later
bv
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Excellent photos Bernie and ithey illustrate clearly that the balls in the race are already half gone and the next event would have been the pulley and belt coming off and banging around back there. We will not always get a warning light, and being at the engine we surely will not hear the noise that precedes the total failure.
Less than a minute is needed to spin the bearings and devices and since you are already back there checking fluids and belts it is a very worthwhile minute.
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FYI. About a year ago, the price from Prevost was $175. for the idler. Another test is the IR thermometer.
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Thanks Jon!
Our coach only has one idler pully and it looks fine. But I took your advice, removed tension and checked everything. Idler pully/tensioner has a small amount of lateral movement. I’ll be replacing it soon.
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I found the pulley important to carry as a spare. When it is defective it should be changed out promptly and can be done by most competant mechanics if you have the part.
You can not redilly access the part on short notice, as in the example above, so carry it along with you.
JIM
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Since our coaches all vary from one another we likely have different types of idler pulleys and different numbers of them. Carrying a spare is definitely a good idea if you have one or two.
With regard to spares, unless you are confident the spare (belt, pulley, relay, filter, etc) is an exact replacement I suggest you put the new one on and carry the good old one as a spare.
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I just replaced the bearing in mine last week. I have the exact same pulley and dash a/c, but not the same alternator setup, so I have 4 belts on it instead of 5. The residue in the picture looks just like what mine did. I used a vacuum to get it cleaned up. There was no sign of grease in the bearing when we took it out. It was totally dry. There was no sign of where the grease went either. Both sides of the pulley were clean.
I got the bearing from Prevost (about $800) and used a press to get the old out and new one in. My pulley was fine.
Like Jon said…check them out. It only takes a little time, and can save you lots of trouble on the road!
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Art, those bearings can be matched at a bearing store. They have numbers on the seal or on the outer bearing rim. I just replaced a bearing on the fan gearbox idler the other day and it was matched with no problem. I would suspect that Prevost price will be higher than a bearing store. My bearing was pricy because it was a double roll bearing and the only people who had it in stock was Applied Industrial Technologies who are very proud of their products. You should be able to get it on eBay after you get the model of the bearing. Caution do not get a Chinese bearing.
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Art,
Keep us posted on your progress and post the bearing number. Finding these bearings in the past has been difficult and DD wants to sell you the whole assembly.
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Got numbers off bearing and this AM going to local bearing house
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For anyone interested the bearing number for the gearbox idler to fan is:
MRC (Skf) 5304CZZ
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holding the part # for the bearing close to the vest…ART?
or should I say engine block.Jonathan
96/97 XL Royale #201 -
You might consider upgrading to the automatic type, DDC# 23527060
https://prevostcommunity.com/forum/threaddetails.asp?Category=&ThreadID=5673
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Regardless of if the coach has the automatic spring loaded tensioner (engine to alternator), or air bag tensioners (gear box to fan or engine to OTR compressor) they all have idler pulleys with bearings that can fail. In addition the engine itself has a couple of pulleys with bearings.
Periodically each idler should be spun by hand and there should be no noise, no rough feel to the rotation, or any slop.
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