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Old 03-12-2017, 01:36 PM   #1
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what sorcery is this... t444e tensioner

howdy skoolie peeps, long time no chat. have put 20k miles on rig and been fulltime for going on 9 months! loving it.

ok task at hand,
the serpentine belt is wearing INTO the tensioner arm itself???
lost bearings in one of the other pulleys about 1k miles ago and changed it out for new one from international, belt went back on a bit tighter when putting it back on then. now I look in there and the damn belt is wearing into the tensioner itself! wtf over? new tensioner? new pulley somewhere?? wrong size belt?? how is this even possible....

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Old 03-12-2017, 02:58 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jester View Post
howdy skoolie peeps, long time no chat. have put 20k miles on rig and been fulltime for going on 9 months! loving it.

ok task at hand,
the serpentine belt is wearing INTO the tensioner arm itself???
lost bearings in one of the other pulleys about 1k miles ago and changed it out for new one from international, belt went back on a bit tighter when putting it back on then. now I look in there and the damn belt is wearing into the tensioner itself! wtf over? new tensioner? new pulley somewhere?? wrong size belt?? how is this even possible....
when I changed my serpentine it took 3 belts before I got the right one, there is 3-4 listings for t444e belts, do you have the original one to compare it to? there could be one of the pulleys worn, or misaligned , when you changed the bearing, was there maybe a washer or spacer that didn't get put back on?
gbstewart
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Old 03-12-2017, 08:02 PM   #3
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Is anyone else having a problem grasping how rubber can wear away steel?
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Old 03-13-2017, 10:28 AM   #4
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Is anyone else having a problem grasping how rubber can wear away steel?
I know!! that is the sorcery part that I spoke of!! I cant wrap my head around it myself.. I will try to take pic and post to my album now.
at first I was thinking the pulley on the tensioner just wore to point of no more clearance, but its metal not plastic... pic going in album now guys.
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Old 03-13-2017, 02:38 PM   #5
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Oh yeah, I see what you're talking about:




My first guess would be that the belt is too long (EDIT: I take it back. I think the belt is too short, which is pulling the tensioner down more than it should be). It may not be pulling the tensioner into it's proper operating location.

Otherwise the tensioner is somehow on there incorrectly, which should be near impossible since it has a locating pin on the mating surface..
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Old 03-13-2017, 02:44 PM   #6
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I know that on a Cummins, there are a couple of different positions that the tensioner can be set in. Could that one just be positioned incorrectly?

I know it doesn't explain the whole "rubber vs steel" thing, but...
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Old 03-13-2017, 02:52 PM   #7
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I recall that when I replaced mine a couple years ago it only had one hole for the locating pin to go into, but the pin was nearly corroded right off of the backside of the old tensioner. I had to scrape the remaining magnesium out of the locating hole before I could install the new tensioner... Could be something to examine.

I could see other accessory configurations having a multi position mount for the tensioner. My bus is a pretty basic model.
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Old 03-13-2017, 03:44 PM   #8
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Rubber belt acts in a similar manner as sandpaper. It essentially polishes away the aluminum (it looks like aluminum to me, not steel).

As far as the issue, are you sure the belt is routed correctly?
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Old 03-13-2017, 08:08 PM   #9
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Rubber belt acts in a similar manner as sandpaper. It essentially polishes away the aluminum (it looks like aluminum to me, not steel).

As far as the issue, are you sure the belt is routed correctly?
holy **** man!! I just went to straight cold case studying every lil wear mark on every pulley and deduced it was indeed routed incorrectly!! I just fixed the beast! perfect belt tension achieved! now to call the ^%@$ that put the pulley on and see if he wants to foot the bill for new tensioner and belt! either way

how much should the tensioner bounce at idle?
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Old 03-13-2017, 10:49 PM   #10
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I want a set of tires made from this rubber!!!
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Old 03-13-2017, 11:31 PM   #11
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how much should the tensioner bounce at idle?
A lot more than it seems like it should.
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Old 03-14-2017, 08:57 AM   #12
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how much should the tensioner bounce at idle?
It'll bounce to a certain degree. It's something that can't be eliminated due to the higher compression of a diesel engine. Crank rotation often times isn't a smooth, constant rpm. It'll have acceleration and deceleration spikes throughout the 360 degrees of crank rotation. That's what causes the jumping. Even the alternator doesn't rotate at a constant velocity, which is why they use one way clutches and decoupler style pulleys on certain models to try and reduce the jerking and extend belt life.
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Old 03-14-2017, 09:28 AM   #13
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it will also bounce if you have air brakes as the air compressor stroke is an uneven tension during the pulley rotation... mine bounces some.. if you chaffed the belt that much then replace it....

-Christopher
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Old 03-14-2017, 10:20 AM   #14
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I want a set of tires made from this rubber!!!
LOL Right!!!

and thanks for the intel about the tensioner bounce guys n gals! skoolie.net wins again. since I started building and living in bus I have been able to consistently mine awesome info here. you guys Rock!
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Old 06-01-2021, 06:02 PM   #15
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I know I'm resurrecting an old thread, but I have the same exact problem on the t444e I bought, that's how the belt I am replacing was installed by the previous owner. I cannot find a diagram anywhere, can you enlighten me on how you rerouted it to fix it?
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Old 06-02-2021, 08:01 AM   #16
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Belt routing depends on the accessories installed.

You can see if you can find something with a google search.

Or you can go to your nearest international dealer and they should be able to locate a diagram for you.
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