Power steering belt alignment/tension Issue

[Theodore]

Noticed recently on our 90 GW that the power steering belt appeared to be wearing thin, riding deep in the pulley groove; looking closer - it appears that the belt is out of alignment. Thinking back, it appears that attempting to fix one problem created another. A few months ago, I swapped the flat mounting plate for one with the square hole to enable belt adjustment.

The Parts Manuals show the flat mounting plate, but Ive seen a few engine bay pics of FSJs with the square hole mounting plate that allows belt adjustment. Am wondering if the mounting brackets are different when square holes are used?

Have poked around on oljeep.com & elsewhere, looking for an exploded parts diagram that shows the adjustment plate with the 1/2-in square drive hole, but so far, no dice.

Problem 1: how to adjust the belt with the flat plate? Our GW had the flat plate, with no good way to adjust belt tension, other than prying on the pump & caving in the reservoir. I noticed in @MysticRobs Build thread, that he had the adjustment plate, so I began a junkyard search for one & swapped it in - creating problem 2.

Problem 2: belt misalignment: looking at the pulleys with a straight edge & comparing the thickness of the flat plate with the adjustment plate, it appears that the difference is how far we are out of alignment - ugh.

Wondering how I get the best of both worlds?

Pump as installed now


Side view - not how thin the belt has gotten - probably has 1000 miles on it.


Flat mounting plate


Adjustment mounting plate


Adjustment mounting plate - side view


Exploded parts diagram

[Theodore]

Poking around on eBay last night, I found pix that make things make sense. Turns out, what i've been calling the 'flat plate' - J3230990 - is a broken version, with the adjustment bolt missing - having never seen a good one before - had no idea; no wonder... The two main cast brackets appear to be the same over the year range, with the adjuster (due to breakage?) being the only apparent change. Given that, i have 2 paths to solving the issue: 1) find a good "old style" J3230990 (let me know if you have one), or 2) run to the local junkyard & pull a set of brackets with the "new style" adjuster & pulley that go together to figure out what's different. I'd prefer to keep the square hole if possible to prevent future breakage, but am glad to have options at this point.

Grabbed quite a few pictures from a couple eBay listings that show the differences in adjustment brackets.

Here's my broken "old style" adjuster J3230990 for reference:


Pic of a good one poached from an eBay listing - Front



All together


And, a pic of the brackets with the "new style" square hole adjuster:

[nograin]

My 85 has the bracket withthe square hole.
My recollection is the hole is for using an adapter to get the tension correct.
Perhaps the nut version is later (eg your 90) and had a different adapter for a torque wrench.
One option for using the broken bracket is to weld a cap head machine screw on.


I don't know that will resolve the alignment issue.
Its possible the pulley is not pressed on sufficiently to the pump.

[wiley-moeracing]

It does look like the alignment for the power steering belt is off (by the pic), is the pulley pressed on all the way, do you have spacers or washers installed behind the mounting brackets? It looks like a new waterpump is installed, are the mounting holes for the power steering pump on the water pump correct, defect in manufacture?

[Theodore]

My 85 has the bracket with the square hole.
My recollection is the hole is for using an adapter to get the tension correct.
Perhaps the nut version is later (eg your 90) and had a different adapter for a torque wrench.
One option for using the broken bracket is to weld a cap head machine screw on.


I don't know that will resolve the alignment issue.
Its possible the pulley is not pressed on sufficiently to the pump.

Hey, nograin - the pulley's on as far as it'll go - there's ~1/16-in gap between the pulley & the shaft housing on the backside. Also, i had the broken adjustment plate installed before & the pulley was aligned; but, tracked down a square hole version after having seen the square hole option in MysticRob's Build Thread, and saw it as an improvement over what i had; didn't notice the thickness difference & made the noob mistake of not checking alignment afterwards.

[Theodore]

It does look like the alignment for the power steering belt is off (by the pic), is the pulley pressed on all the way, do you have spacers or washers installed behind the mounting brackets? It looks like a new waterpump is installed, are the mounting holes for the power steering pump on the water pump correct, defect in manufacture?

Hey, wiley-moeracing, the pulley's on as far as it'll go; there's a 1/16-in gap behind the pulley; even so, alignment is off 1/8 - 3/16-in, which is the thickness difference.

On the waterpump question, yes, that's new - but, there's no extra washers installed behind the pump & the secondary bracket that installs on the front of the pump is straight across with no gaps.

In a few, i'll run outside & take a pic to post that compares the two adjustment brackets' thicknesses.

[nograin]

I can see the twist where the belt goes tothe water pump pulley.
So if the water pump and crank pulley's align, then it would seem you're on the right track.



Did the part number for the pulley change with the bracket part number changing?


Looking in the 1981 to 1986 parts Book.
All those years the SJ V-8 uses:
1 Pulley J322 7674
3 Bracket J323 0990


The illustration is the same as the one you posted. Is that an earlier year? What's a 5.7 ? 304?

[Theodore]

I can see the twist where the belt goes to the water pump pulley.
So if the water pump and crank pulley's align, then it would seem you're on the right track.



Did the part number for the pulley change with the bracket part number changing?


Looking in the 1981 to 1986 parts Book.
All those years the SJ V-8 uses:
1 Pulley J322 7674
3 Bracket J323 0990


The illustration is the same as the one you posted. Is that an earlier year? What's a 5.7 ? 304?

The exploded parts diagram i posted earlier was from the 1987-1990 Parts book.

re: 5.7L shown on the page - that appears to be a typo. Searching for 5.7L in the Parts Manual, only finds 2 instances: 1 in the list of Figures mentioning the Power Steering Pump Mounting page, and the Mounting Page itself. Searching for 5.9L shows 1000+ instances.

Looking at the 2 spare square hole adjustment plates i have in the parts stash, the factory was consistent - all of the part numbers are stamped over the curve - i can make out J323, but can't tell what the other numbers are.

i've not seen any numbers stamped in the pulley.

[jeepman42]

Remember having issues last yr. when reassembling,and will do it again soon as heads redone.
Sometimes washer/spacer issues could cause bracket tilt??
Also had air pump alignment issues because I mounted pully(3small bolts) on backward which also caused alignment issues.
Good luck w solving the issue!

[jeepman42]

Remember having issues last yr. when reassembling,and will do it again soon as heads redone.
Sometimes washer/spacer issues could cause bracket tilt??
Also had air pump alignment issues because I mounted pully(3small bolts) on backward which also caused alignment issues.
Good luck w solving the issue!

[devildog80]

Aside from the alignment issue, the belt you are using is too thin, which allows it to twist down into the pump pulley.

Look for a belt that will run more flush across the outer edge of the pulley, so it is pulling against the sides of the belt when seated into the "V", and not being forced in sideways like what you currently have there.

[Theodore]

Aside from the alignment issue, the belt you are using is too thin, which allows it to twist down into the pump pulley.

Look for a belt that will run more flush across the outer edge of the pulley, so it is pulling against the sides of the belt when seated into the "V", and not being forced in sideways like what you currently have there.

Hey, Devildog, agreed; the thinness of the belt is what tipped me off to the issue. The belt as installed was a standard Gates belt that has worn down thin due to the misalignment - prob has 1000 or so miles on it. Am hoping to find time this weekend to make a run to the junkyard & pull a PS pump and brackets, incl the square hole adjuster to compare parts.

[rang-a-stang]

My 79 had the square hole also. I found that when there was no belt, if you loosened the nuts that hold the pump to the bracket, there was some slop and you could rock the pump around a little bit, not just up and down like adjusting the belt but also front and back to align the pulley. If you look through my build thread, I had a long arduous fight with my belt system. I am not sure if this movement is by design, becuase I may have had mismatched parts, or excessive wear/tear.

What I found worked to align the PS pump pulley in my case was loosening both of the 5/8" nuts a few whole turns, remove the belt, then lay a straight edge across the crank pulley, up to the power steering pulley. You can use the water pump too but I found it was easier to adjust to the crank pulley. With the straight edge there across both pulleys, adjust the pump until is it aligned with the crank by moving it with your hand, then slowly tighten those nuts to hold the pump locked in that aligned position. Next loosen the upper nut (closest to the square hole) about 3/4 turn (It should be pretty loose) and the lower nut (closest to the valve cover) about 1/4 turn (it should not be very loose); just enough were you can move the pump using a ratchet in the square hole for leverage. Then install and adjust your belt accordingly.