How To Replace Idler Pulley 1992-2000 Chevy Tahoe

Okay, friends. To get started on replacing our idler pulley, we're gonna have to remove the serpentine belt. To do that, you're gonna have to relieve tension with the tensioner right down here. But before we go ahead and do that, just take a quick note of your serpentine belt routing. Meaning by that is how it goes around all of the pulleys. Once you have a quick note of that, just go ahead and use your 3/8 ratchet, we're gonna come right down into the groove, turn this counterclockwise, that's gonna release the tension, and we'll take the belt right off of the idler pulley.

At this point, we can continue on to removing our 13-millimeter headed bolt right here, and that'll remove the idler pulley. There's the idler pulley. Next, we need to remove this tab right here so we can get our mounting bolt out of there. Most times with these, what you can use is a pair of cutters. We're just gonna grab onto one of these ears, try to break this off. At this point, we can take the bolt with our washer off, and then remove the adapter as well. There's our idler pulley.

Now, we just wanna inspect this area here where the mounting plate is gonna be. We wanna make sure that it's nice and clean. After you're sure of that, go ahead and take your little adapter here, put it on the backside of the brand new pulley, start your bolt through. This looks great. Just like this. Now, let's get this onto the engine.

First, what we're gonna do, is we're just gonna go ahead and snug this up so it's bottomed out. Once we've done that, let's torque it to 37 foot-pounds. Now that that's torqued, let's get our belt back on there.

Now, if you set your belt inside the grooves, you're gonna see it fits perfectly. Essentially, just make sure it's not hanging off like this. If it does, it'll ruin the belt. Start this onto all my grooves. Make sure you're on all of the flat pulleys as well. This looks great. Okay. So, I have my belt on here now. Now, you just need to double-check. Like I said before, make sure it's sitting inside all the grooves. If it's hanging out, you're gonna ruin your belt.

Okay, friends. So, we successfully replaced our idler pulley. All you have to do now is start up the truck, let her run for 5 or 10 seconds, turn it off, come back out, and double-check to make sure your belt is on all those pulleys properly. Assuming it is, take it for a road test.