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2G Tensioner puller

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the heeat

10+ Year Contributor
113
1
Jun 21, 2012
Lebanon, Virginia
Ok guys, I know as someone already said in a post i read that this is a super dead horse subject but I can't find exactly what I need and got aggravated after weeks of searching so here goes....
New gates belt, bs belt, and tensionerS (including auto tensioner), plus new water pump...all installed. Now I'm trying to set tension. Torque wrench, check. Had special tool MD998752 made by a friend at work: he took old pulley and welded 2 lil dowel pins in proper location onto a socket! I was using batt rod in place of other special tool but I bent it upon removal for him to take and fab something similar. Do I need 2nd special tool to set tensioner pulley? And where should the 2 holes be aligned to begin with coz I read they wouldn't be on left side of using a gates belt...why that makes a difference I'll never know. Thanks in advance for any and all help!
 
The vfaq guide was for a 7-bolt motor. The videos give you a visual to answer your question. Use it along with the directions in the vfaq guide.
 
This is a 4g63 correct?

The easiest way is to tension the pulley with the grenade pin in the hydraulic tensioner. The pulley should make the belt snug, like 2-3 pounds to rotate the pulley counterclockwise to hold it against the belt. Tighten the tensioner pulley bolt and remove grenade pin. Rotate crank 6 times to top dead center again, then wait 15 minutes and check the gap between the hydraulic tensioner and the tensioner pulley arm.

With the pulley exerting 2-3 pounds of force against the belt, when you pull the grenade pin it will slightly rise to the correct belt tension. Grenade pin in the gap on the arm is like .14 and spec is .15 to .18 so it only slightly rises.

If you have over rotated the tensioner pulley the gap between the hydraulic tensioner and the arm closes and the arm is now too close to the tensioner unit. If the tensioner pulley isn't rotated enough the gap between the hydraulic tensioner and the tensioner arm is too large

The reason you do this to spec is to keep the hydraulic tensioner in its most powerful position, not so low the arm bottoms out on it, and not so far away the tensioner cant apply the correct pressure
 
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Right, and I got all that....but where I don't have the special tool to hold the arm down, when I go to set tensioner, it wants to spin the whole way around which I don't think is correct. So I'll have something to use in its place later this week I hope and should be able to find something out. Thanks
 
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Hey guys, finally got a piece of all thread and everything set up as required but I have a clicker-type in/lb torque wrench (can't find needle-type anywhere and not ordering when I'll never need it again for long time). Anyway, I was watching the second video to see how to preload the tensioner and understood the need of the needle-type torque wrench. So I guess my next question is how can I make this work with what I've got?
 
Just do it by feel. Bottom line is the final tension. If its too tight or too loose you just adjust as necessary. Might take you 20 min but its pretty self explanatory once you get in there
 
Awesome, thanks! Another quick question-where I'm using a gates belt, it says the two holes will be off from oem. Can somebody post me a pic of how the tensioner pulley is supposed to be sitting, just for a reference. Thanks again guys!
 
Nope.

Try reading the vfaq again, or the post I made earlier. the vfaq even has a picture of the tensioner pulleys alignment in the damn write up.


Have you read the write up on vfaq.Com

yes or no?

The odds against you successfully completin this project keep getting higher with every post you make that is answered in the write ups and videos we have already provided for you, which means you didn't read or watch any of them

Tension is measured by the pressure applied by the pulley on the belt, the orientation of the holes in the pulley make no difference regardless if it is an oem tensioner pulley or a lime green ebay pulley. Their orientation is a result of the tension, they do not dictate the tension.

You should only be using a mitsubishi hydraulic tensioner unit, the gates unit with the big china stamp should be placed in the trash can. Or are you trying to use the china stamped tensioner too?
 
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Nope.

Try reading the vfaq again, or the post I made earlier. the vfaq even has a picture of the tensioner pulleys alignment in the damn write up.


Have you read the write up on vfaq.Com

yes or no?

The odds against you successfully completin this project keep getting higher with every post you make that is answered in the write ups and videos we have already provided for you, which means you didn't read or watch any of them

Tension is measured by the pressure applied by the pulley on the belt, the orientation of the holes in the pulley make no difference regardless if it is an oem tensioner pulley or a lime green ebay pulley. Their orientation is a result of the tension, they do not dictate the tension.

You should only be using a mitsubishi hydraulic tensioner unit, the gates unit with the big china stamp should be placed in the trash can. Or are you trying to use the china stamped tensioner too?

I'm only after a little assistance, not flack, so save that for....nevermind who. Anyway,I watched both videos and read vfaq several times, saved where I'm at with screenshots but some of others people's trials and errors would make me unsure of how something needed to be done so I wanted to be on point with every single step where it's such a precise procedure. Actuator is mitsu, belt is gates, all tensioners are oem.
 
We're here to help but there's only so much we can cover so many times.

To be a little more specific I didn't use a torque wrench. With the pulley rotating tool I was able to use a small 8 mm wrench to rotate the tensioner counter clockwise to about finger tight strength, the full strength of only my index finger rotating the pulley against the belt. I held that position while I tightened the center tensioner bolt.

After tightening the bolt I removed the grenade pin so that the tesioner assembly raised ever so slightly so that it raised and applied the correct tension of the belt. I then rotated the crank 6 times and waited 15 minutes to measure the gap between the hydraulic tensioner and the tensioner arm

If you over rotated the tensioner pulley the hydraulic tensioner assembly gap between it and the tensioner arm will be too small. If you didn't rotate the tensioner pulley enough the hydraulic tensioners gap between it and the tensioner arm will be too large..

The gap between the arm and the hydraulic tensioner is .15-.18 to be within factory specifications. Again this is covered on www.vfaq.Com with pictures and detailed step by step instructions.

Again the gap between the arm and the hydraulic tensioner will tell you if you have rotated the pulley too much or too little

Best of luck
 
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To quote my first reply, and I will agree this is a little snarky to quote myself ;)

This is a 4g63 correct?

The easiest way is to tension the pulley with the grenade pin in the hydraulic tensioner. The pulley should make the belt snug, like 2-3 pounds to rotate the pulley counterclockwise to hold it against the belt. Tighten the tensioner pulley bolt and remove grenade pin. Rotate crank 6 times to top dead center again, then wait 15 minutes and check the gap between the hydraulic tensioner and the tensioner pulley arm.

With the pulley exerting 2-3 pounds of force against the belt, when you pull the grenade pin it will slightly rise to the correct belt tension. Grenade pin in the gap on the arm is like .14 and spec is .15 to .18 so it only slightly rises.

If you have over rotated the tensioner pulley the gap between the hydraulic tensioner and the arm closes and the arm is now too close to the tensioner unit. If the tensioner pulley isn't rotated enough the gap between the hydraulic tensioner and the tensioner arm is too large

The reason you do this to spec is to keep the hydraulic tensioner in its most powerful position, not so low the arm bottoms out on it, and not so far away the tensioner cant apply the correct pressure.
 
Ok, I've got it where it's supposed to be. I used a 5/32 Allen key to check the gap from top of tensioner housing to the bottom of the arm and it's just how you said. I think my problem was where I had a makeshift tensioner pulley tool and it ended up breaking so I put tension on the pulley using a screwdriver against the h2o pump. It's resting right now to see if anything moves, then it'll be going back in the car....finally! Thanks for your help snarky!
 
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Just adjust the tensioner pulley so that the auto tensioner holding pin (eg. 1/16” allen wrench) slides freely all the way through the auto tensioner body and pin holes (after you turn the crankshaft 6 revs and wait 15 minutes for the belt to stretch and auto tensioner to settle). Adjust the tensioner pulley to do this and it will automatically make the distance between the tensioner arm and auto tensioner body (drill bit measurement) be about .157 in. (spec is .150 - .177 in.).

An easy way to do this is to compress the auto tensioner (with special tool MD998738 or battery hold down rod) until the pin hole is just below the auto tensioner body holes [where holding (aka grenade) pin would slide into]. Then while leaving rod there, tension tensioner pulley using crowbar with rag over it (to not damage tensioner pulley) from below using water pump as pivot point. Make it tension very tight and then tighten bolt. Now back off rod, rotate crank 6 times, wait 15 minutes (for the belt to stretch and auto tensioner to settle), check if the auto tensioner holding pin slides freely all the way through the auto tensioner body and pin holes, repeat until it does.

My full timing belt install tips (although all you need is the 2nd paragraph above): http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/timing-belt-tensioning-tips-for-4g63-turbo.214625/
 
Ok, had to readjust a couple times last night because I eithet had it too tight or not tight enough...checked again this morning and everything seems spot on, FINALLY! YAY! haha thank you guys, it seemed like I needed one piece of info from this guy, another from another and so on because of the way I was having to go about all this. So it's finally been pieced together and accomplished and I appreciate all you guys help and patience with me and this undead horse!
 
I found it easy to just have the pulley tool. Its faster to just remove the tensioner and clamp it down in a C-Clamp slowly than using that tool and I just used 2 chip clips on the cam gears and nothing moved. Saved myself $30 and the job went just as easily.
 
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