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03-12-2017, 01:36 PM
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#1
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Skoolie
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: onboard
Posts: 235
Year: 97
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: BadMuthaFuka
Engine: Cummins 5.9
Rated Cap: All of us
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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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03-12-2017, 02:58 PM
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#2
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,208
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: 3800 International
Engine: T444E
Rated Cap: 72
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jester
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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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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03-12-2017, 08:02 PM
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#3
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 8,462
Year: 1946
Coachwork: Chevrolet/Wayne
Chassis: 1- 1/2 ton
Engine: Cummins 4BT
Rated Cap: 15
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Is anyone else having a problem grasping how rubber can wear away steel?
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03-13-2017, 10:28 AM
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#4
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Skoolie
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: onboard
Posts: 235
Year: 97
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: BadMuthaFuka
Engine: Cummins 5.9
Rated Cap: All of us
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tango
Is anyone else having a problem grasping how rubber can wear away steel?
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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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03-13-2017, 02:38 PM
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#5
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Posts: 1,791
Year: 1997
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: B3800 Short bus
Engine: T444E
Rated Cap: 36
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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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03-13-2017, 02:44 PM
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#6
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 8,462
Year: 1946
Coachwork: Chevrolet/Wayne
Chassis: 1- 1/2 ton
Engine: Cummins 4BT
Rated Cap: 15
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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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03-13-2017, 02:52 PM
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#7
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Posts: 1,791
Year: 1997
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: B3800 Short bus
Engine: T444E
Rated Cap: 36
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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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03-13-2017, 03:44 PM
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#8
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Bus Geek
Join Date: May 2014
Location: West Ohio
Posts: 3,673
Year: 1984
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: International 1753
Engine: 6.9 International
Rated Cap: 65
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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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03-13-2017, 08:08 PM
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#9
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Skoolie
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: onboard
Posts: 235
Year: 97
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: BadMuthaFuka
Engine: Cummins 5.9
Rated Cap: All of us
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Booyah45828
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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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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The road is crazy.
Be safe
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03-13-2017, 10:49 PM
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#10
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 8,462
Year: 1946
Coachwork: Chevrolet/Wayne
Chassis: 1- 1/2 ton
Engine: Cummins 4BT
Rated Cap: 15
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I want a set of tires made from this rubber!!!
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03-13-2017, 11:31 PM
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#11
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Posts: 855
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: All American
Engine: Cummins 8.3/Allison MD3060
Rated Cap: 84
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jester
how much should the tensioner bounce at idle?
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A lot more than it seems like it should.
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03-14-2017, 08:57 AM
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#12
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Bus Geek
Join Date: May 2014
Location: West Ohio
Posts: 3,673
Year: 1984
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: International 1753
Engine: 6.9 International
Rated Cap: 65
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jester
how much should the tensioner bounce at idle?
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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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03-14-2017, 09:28 AM
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#13
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Bus Geek
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,751
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
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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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03-14-2017, 10:20 AM
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#14
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Skoolie
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: onboard
Posts: 235
Year: 97
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: BadMuthaFuka
Engine: Cummins 5.9
Rated Cap: All of us
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tango
I want a set of tires made from this rubber!!!
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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!
__________________
The road is crazy.
Be safe
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06-01-2021, 06:02 PM
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#15
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New Member
Join Date: Feb 2021
Posts: 1
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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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06-02-2021, 08:01 AM
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#16
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Bus Geek
Join Date: May 2014
Location: West Ohio
Posts: 3,673
Year: 1984
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: International 1753
Engine: 6.9 International
Rated Cap: 65
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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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