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Proper Lubrication of Timing Belt Pullies?


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In light of the open timing belt tread I'd like to bring this up. After 2 solid days of hard trail riding in Castana I siezed an idler pulley on my trip home. This concequently shearded my left timing belt.

 

I noticed if I kept them properly lubed up they were fine. Well I ignored them for a few hours on my way home, bearings over heated, and siezed :( They were so hot I could have lit a cig off one!

 

What I've been using is PB Blaster. Great stuff but I wonder is there a thicker grease I could apply to these? I want something that is highly water resisnt and thick enough to stick in there and not just run out or fling off. Also didnt see any fittings to chuck up a real grease gun so how should I apply it so it actually gets down into the bearings where it needs to be?

 

Thanks!

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In light of the open timing belt tread I'd like to bring this up. After 2 solid days of hard trail riding in Castana I siezed an idler pulley on my trip home. This concequently shearded my left timing belt.

 

I noticed if I kept them properly lubed up they were fine. Well I ignored them for a few hours on my way home, bearings over heated, and siezed :( They were so hot I could have lit a cig off one!

 

What I've been using is PB Blaster. Great stuff but I wonder is there a thicker grease I could apply to these? I want something that is highly water resisnt and thick enough to stick in there and not just run out or fling off. Also didnt see any fittings to chuck up a real grease gun so how should I apply it so it actually gets down into the bearings where it needs to be?

 

Thanks!

 

Get a ea81 :)

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Get a ea81 :)

Working on it! Got a dude near by with a cached Brat. Said the engine and tranny worked great before he parked it. Drive train is rusting away from the unibody however.... in a BAD BAD way :slobber: Problem is I gotta get the engine/tranny out and then get the junk body hauled off to a crusher.

 

Now stay on topic and quit grining about your superior timing chain setup :-p I gotta get through this next season methinks before I can do the engine swap I have in mind.

 

Other ppl offroad EA82 engines.... what are they doing? Just running timing covers and praying that all the seals are good enough to not let water and junk in? I know my old timing belt covers were practicly useless at sealing anything out =(

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go to the local tractor supply store. pick up one of those hypodermic needle adaptors. start refilling all your "sealed"

bearings. The serpentine tensioner pulley, the alternator and

so on. slip the hypo needle under the dust seal

and work the tip gently into a space between the BB's and pump the

gun till the grease (and water and crud) comes poppin out.

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First make sure you have real sealed bearings with rubber seals and not shields, if they are sealed and full of grease the water cant get in without pushing the grease out. And you can do as Gary says (I have, but not on EA-82 pulleys).

 

go to the local tractor supply store. pick up one of those hypodermic needle adaptors. start refilling all your "sealed"

bearings. The serpentine tensioner pulley, the alternator and

so on. slip the hypo needle under the dust seal

and work the tip gently into a space between the BB's and pump the

gun till the grease (and water and crud) comes poppin out.

But go easy when re-lubing them, to much push on the grease gun and you will blow out a seal (you can press it back in).

 

Gary

 

P.S. When I saw the title about lubing timing belt pulleys I was going to explane that the leaking front seals do that for you. :D

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I have started running "naked" timing belts myself, and since Fuji does not reccomend doing this, I plan to develop my own annual service routine of cleaning, inspection, and lubrication. The benefits far outweigh the hassles of this extra maintenence, IMO.

All Talk, I wasn't aware that there are both sealed and non-sealed bearings available, but the sealed type would definitely prolong pulley life. Do you have a brand/source you normally use?

John

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If you're looking for a good spray lubricant, the best I've found is Torco MPZ. It's red and I have no idea what it is, but this stuff works like nothing else. It penetrates pretty well but DOES NOT fling off. I found it at a snowmachine place when I needed some good lube for the problematic steering system on my Phazer, and now I spray it on everything from suspension bushings to throttle linkages to putting a tiny bit on the throwout bearing where it contacts the clutch fork.

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If you're looking for a good spray lubricant, the best I've found is Torco MPZ. It's red and I have no idea what it is, but this stuff works like nothing else. It penetrates pretty well but DOES NOT fling off. I found it at a snowmachine place when I needed some good lube for the problematic steering system on my Phazer, and now I spray it on everything from suspension bushings to throttle linkages to putting a tiny bit on the throwout bearing where it contacts the clutch fork.

Torco MPZ eh? Sounds pretty good! Might have to find a local supplier....

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  • 4 months later...

has anyone ever done this before? i know of one reliabe person that said he used a grease needle from a tractor store to successfully regrease his bearings. i picked one up last week and tried it on mine - no luck. only thing i got was a bent needle trying to figure out how to slide the needle in. it's too tight for the needle to fit.....anyone? i'm diggin through old posts but not getting much from it.

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Believe it or not the metal sealed bearings those seals are very removable..they seal by surface tension of the grease inside which gives you some idea of the thickness of grease one should be using.. my recommendation if one is rebuilding those idler pulleys get the correct bearing with metal seals take a seal off and flush out the crappy grease that they come with install some good moly grease in there snap the seal back on press bearing into pulley w 32mm socket and BFH or hydraulic press if you've got it..the reason I recommend the metal seals is you can get em out without busting them to repack the bearing and the plastic seals deteriorate after a while..lol with a teeny bit of machining, timing belt tensioners can be made rebuildable..but that's for a later date..

 

oh and the reason you might be having a hard time injecting into the plastic seals is because they are typically backed by metal..

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