Tool Time: Squealing Belts, Laser Beams and Pulley Alignment, WHAT!?

32 thoughts on “Tool Time: Squealing Belts, Laser Beams and Pulley Alignment, WHAT!?”

1. Looks like a snake

2. Belt so quiet…yoy can hear the leaky exhaust manifold😂😂😂😂

3. Thx for the info 🙏💪👍

4. Not a red one !!
   The standard of metrology!!😂

5. As soon as i saw the title of this video i thought i knew my problem. My tendioner pulley and s belt were replaced less than 2 years ago aling with timing and any other belts and its been squeeking and squeeling ever since! The tensioner came off yesterday and threw the belt. Guy said the tensioner is stripped. Now im a girl, not very mechanically inclined but gifted with a little common sense. (Still…i didn't investigate the squeeking i just kept saying "its all new belts it shouldnt be squeeking like that"! Its not a river in egypt)
   But Im thinking now, a misaligned tensioner pulley would cause it to become stripped over a period of time. I could be wrong but im about to find out. Hope i dont have to go buy a laser thingy. 🙄 Thank you so much for this very informative and watc hable video!

6. That belt is quite I can hear my wifes classic sneak a fart now 😢

7. I always talk to myself too! Lol

8. just went thru this with my 03 land rover disco 2…the pulley for the power steering pump backed off 1/8" ….there was not pushing it on…ie: no hole to thread the tool on. so I had to buy a new PS pump. argh!

9. I replaced the belt since it had that glazing on it. Was few years old also installed new Drive Belt Tensioner. And power steering pump and Alternator.

10. Would a feeler gauge on the alternator pulley/ body show misalignment?

11. Sorry for some of my rants, y’all. And by sorry I mean, not sorry, but that I humbly request your understanding of my mindset, which is firmly set in reality, while the world around me is at least in some large and consequential part, delusional. Which in turn leaves me feeling like an alien on his native planet, which in turn leads to bouts of self questioning, introspection, and an honest-to-a-fault desire for truth AND acceptance, which nowadays seems mutually exclusive traits. My peers seem to prefer that I give up on what they may see as Quixotian, but I tilt at no windmills. The windmills tilt at me.

12. He said, “while you’re down there”. Yeah, I’m actually 15 years old.

13. He said, “it pulls, it pushes, it does everything a power steering puller should do”. Get your minds out of the gutter. I’m here because I broke the giant aluminum bracket where the alternator and power steering pump mount on my 2006 Suburban. How in the living hell did GM or any automaker make such a part so exceedingly difficult to fix, and where a couple of mistakes changing a simple accessory so consequential. Why must it be pressed on? That’s so archaic. As in, we have progressed from the times of “hoping it will stay because I used massive amounts of pressure to put it on”, where there quite literally is NO defined or truly discernible means of assuring said part will stay in place. We invented the inclined plane in circular form as a means of pumping liquids and retaining fixtures eons ago. Yet, the auto manufacturers assure problems by forcing the removal of a pressed on pulley to replace a power steering pump, circa pressed on chariot wheels. Wait, even THEN, they often used keyed slots on a tapered shaft retained with a cross pin, similar to todays cotter pin. Why not a nylock nut, easily removed, provide a shaft lock tab, like on so many rotary tools like the Rotozip or angle grinder, (yet not on most circular saws, where most needed). Wtf? After breaking that bracket, not so easy to get new, I hauled ass to LKQ, knowing they’d have a dozen or more GMT800 vehicles there, and luckily found a candidate with only the bolts and hoses needing to be removed before snagging it. Took ten minutes. But wait, there’s more. I still have to get the old power steering pump off the new(to me) bracket before putting the new pump and pulley on it. I’ve already broken one bracket using every professional tool and method known to exist, and here I sit, trying not to duplicate the mistake, and still finding frustration and my long temper running short again. Rinse, repeat. On the old pump pulley, I used an angle grinder to cut 2/5ths of the pulley snout away, hoping it would ease its grip on the pump shaft. Nope. Damnation and hellfire. I took a couple of swings with the hand sledge at that part of the pulley, resulting in a bracket broken in THREE PLACES, and the pulley is still stuck. A freak example of fused bi- Metal reaction, I thought. Well, Lightning has struck twice. I now have to get the second pulley off the replacement bracket’s P/S pump, and some 10 hours and $200 of running around, trying this and that, buying replacement parts and different versions of the same tool, still where I started. In fact, in the five or more times I’ve done this type of thing, I’m batting a big 0 for success. Each time noting the proper method and using every resource available to see a job well done. So it’s not just me, and not just Saginaw pumps. My Hemi Magnum gave me the same problem, and there was no corrosion or abuse or anything like that to blame. I can have a head off an American V8 in 30 minutes (save for the exhaust manifold to cat connection bolts). In fact, I can’t think of ANY other automotive task as problematic as this. Pitman arms, ball joints, suspension springs, door hinges, hubs, control arms, no problem. Hell, I rebuilt the ENTIRE front end of my daughter’s wrecked Magnum RT in less time and with less hassle. The whole front end, all suspension parts removed, bumper cover, wheel well liners, engine hanging, broken motor mounts removed, cradle removed, fender and hood removed, and all replaced, in less time than I’ve spent replacing one f’ing power steering pump, and likewise when I’ did the one on my Magnum. Wtf? I literally changed the water pump on my Suburban faster than I could change the tire, if using the spare. With a loose replacement tire, it was within a few minutes. Alternator might take three minutes. Why then, should a power steering pump be such a task? Looking at you domestics! My Mercedes ML320 took five minutes to swap out the P/S pump, and at that, it’s high pressure side doesn’t even use a hose. It’s fixture is integral to the mounting position. And on that note, it’s that very part’s leaking O-ring which brought me to South Main, my first episode, and when he said, “we don’t see to many imports around here”, I knew I was in honest hands. $2 and ten minutes later, leak fixed. Literally the next day, our Mercury Milan was the problem, with gnarly vibration on braking, AND acceleration, yet was not because of any brake or engine problem. Alas, on South Main Auto, Eric O fixed a car which had been to multiple shops, had all four tires unnecessarily replaced, rotors, the lot. Well, it turns out that four cylinder engines aren’t so smooth, and we take for granted the ways the OEMs damp those vibrations. He showed how the trans mount was torn through, yet hard to see without forcing the engine/trans combo fore and aft. I had my wife hold the brakes while torquing the drivetrain in drive and reverse. The results were dramatic. Easy(ish) swap, and the vibration was mostly gone. Soon after, I replaced both the engine mount and the “dog bone” underneath, and all was well in Milan world. Thank you Eric O. You are a distant friend and like minded soul. That one episode where he starts out with, “this truck reeks of frustration”, he had me rolling over in my chair. Too funny! But he called it. I think he sees a lot of these issues similarly to the way I do. How can a committee of fat cats, each making ten times what I ever will, sit around a boardroom table, where of course they are getting paid for their ability to make informed and qualified decisions, in committee format no less, where the finger can rarely be pointed at one person, rather, group think is the disease, allow a part or process or system to be approved, yet be outrageously problematic, or at worst, deadly? How indeed. Cue us blue collar guys losing our shit, whipping those pressed suits with our extra-long breaker bars, executive management types begging for forgiveness, as they promise no more 1,000 square foot kitchens, no more gilded driveways, and no more seasonal homes , while they feast off of the infrastructure American tax dollars provide for their businesses to exploit nearly tax free, justifying their seven figure BONUSES by citing their lofty decision making skills and decades of experience as reasons for such compensation, while in REALITY, they are no more accountable than a local weatherman. Meanwhile, you or I flinch or cast a critical eye wrong, and it’s our ASS which will pay. The very idea that up north in the rust belt, your vehicles are lucky to have a 5 year lifespan, and where a vehicle more than 10 years old is a near miracle, is mind boggling. We are paying for the govt to “save our lives” with salted roads, while very much knowingly pissing millions of consumer dollars down the drain because of a long standing and accepted method of “keeping snow and ice off of the roads”. But does it? Ok, if so, why snow plows? I understand it takes multiple methods to keep snow off of the roads. Yet salt simply isn’t worth the cost. Buying a new car every three to five years is ABSURD, and in itself a plague rotting our nation. Conspicuous consumption is a disease which has ravaged our country for decades now, and no one seems to grasp how consequential it has been for everyone who is NOT a corporate CEO. Does that mean we should all aspire to be a corporate CEO? Not hardly. Their actual quality of life outlook as far as the values we might take for granted are abysmal.

14. Live out your fantasy here with me. Just let the music set you free. Touch my body, and move in time. Now I know you’re mine. You’ve got to, get into the groove. Boy you’ve got to prove your not misaligned. Get your gauges, yeah it’s been ages. Boy don’t let your wages, make you feel less inclined! You’ve got to….get a laser pulley alignment tool. Get up on your feet, don’t put up with that squeak, your momma ain’t raise no fool! You’ve got to……listen up to Mr. O, take heed, he’ll laser point you in the right direction, never settle for any belt deflection. Mrs. O helps you bury the hate, she can motivate. You’ve got her vote, ain’t no election. Get them green stacks with perfection. Tonight the kids will sleep before too late, then maybe she can help you with that ………word selection(?). No that’s not the lyric. Help you with your…..repair direction……Nope, not it either. Help you with your hard …..to find WiFi connection. Whew!! That was a close one! Stay in school kids. Get your belts and pulleys into the groove, you got to prove, your love to your accessory drive system. And Mrs. O, never, ever, forsake him. You’ve both won the lottery already. Stay in the groove. A love like that need not be petty. Get into the groove. Keep it nice and steady. With love. And a well maintained set of tools. Get the LoveCo Laser Pulley and Marriage Alignment Tool, free with your committed vows, while supplies last!! Note: Nationwide supplies are limited! Don’t hesitate, or you’ll elevate, our epidemic level, divorce rate. Note: your results may vary. Note: It takes tow to tango. Note: It takes only one to trip and fall. Tread lightly. …….anyone got a tissue?
    One issue. You’re, like a prayer. (Boos and groans all around). Happy Frickin November everyone!! Cause everyday is Halloween. Same era, opposite end of dance music spectrum. But of course I see Carcass and the Carpenters as the same genre. Beauty can be found in the identification of sorrow. Alas, a like mind might heal that sorrow. Stand by your man. You’ve got me, on top of the world. But When all is said and done, there’s no love lost. I’m not freaking out, you’re freaking out.

15. Is there a way to check alignment without a laser kit? I changed the power steering pump and used the puller, however the belt is jumping 1 track towards the engine and that innermost rib is then being sliced off of the belt.

16. Bosch belts.

17. Thanks for the education Eric

18. I can tell by the way you talk to yourself that youve spent many, many, many hours under a hood 😂👍

19. Learned something new , did not know that pulleys can be aligned manually like you did thanks

20. “That belt is so quiet you can now hear the leaking exhaust manifold,” Comedy courtesy of Eric O. … and lasers, too! Thanks for bringing us along.

21. super helpful. I have had a chirp for a while since I changed my ps pump. I noticed the belt was at the back of the idler. I sucked the alternator forward but it wasnt enough. I will check my ps pump pulley this weekend. thanks.

22. 💯👌👏🫵

23. I have tried many solutions, the squeak always comes back. Most recent fix? Dielectric grease. Stopped the squeak but for how long? Dammir. P.o.S. belts. Gatorback beltsno longer available. Anybody wonder why? Continental bought them out. Continental Elite they are called now. Still cannot find one for my 4.0 Ford Aerostar 1997. Zero support.

24. Kool!! We’re going into StarWars mode!!! LASERS

25. "Gates" is who makes the OEM GM belts, I've used Bando brand belts and it's of good quality as well. Personally I stick with OEM

26. I have an old Ford PU that I can use at least 3 different length serpentine belts on. Depending upon which accessory pump I want to delete.

27. A buddy of mine got burned once multiple tensioners and idler pulleys belts etc even an alternator turns out the power steering pulley was out of alignment

28. How many shops think misaligned pulleys instead of shot bearings? How many have been taught to check pulley alignment as part of troublinshooting squeaky belts?

    It's likely the other shops never heard about pulley alignments or they might have checked the alignment when the truck went into the first shop.

29. Great video. A coworker when I worked at a shop briefly gave me a Dayco kit. It may have even been to get it out of his toolbox and free up room but regardless I’m finally seeing an opportunity for it 1.5 years later. I wouldn’t buy it new myself in any relatively soon time if that $100 price I saw somewhere is current, so it’s great to have for free.

30. Our parts store has carried Dayco belts and hoses as long as I can remember. I've installed a lot of both. No issue with them.

31. Thank you very much 👍👍👍👍👍

32. Thank you very much 👍

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