markloch

While tracking down a pulley/belt squeak on my 02 clk55 cab, I noticed that on the tensioner pulley the belt travelled side-to-side a couple millimeters or three. Upstream is the crank pulley, which has a slight wobble, explaining the belt travel on the tensioner.

I'm assuming this needs to be replaced, it can only get worse, ultimately exploding. I figure with the case @92k miles I might as well swap out the idler and tensioner pulleys, right? Or not? Anything else I should consider (besides the belt of course) while I'm doing these jobs? I've got plugs to do as well, but given the sixteen opportunities to strip threads (been there done that) I might leave that to professionals

Mark

MarcusF

The pulley swap is a good idea while doing the balancer.

If you can pull the balancer, you can probably do the plugs. I've done the plugs a couple of times, they aren't terribly bad on a 430. The 55 is just a tighter fit I suppose. Thread wars abound with whether to use antiseize on the plugs. I do because I've taken plenty of heads to the machine shop to be helicoiled and don't want to have to do it again if possible. I use a torque wrench to tighten the plugs that can be accessed with one. For the others, I use the Bosch method. Here's a link to the Bosch method. It's simple, has been around forever, and was recommended by Bosch - www.fitzhughmedia.com/MBF/sparkplugtight.html.

Lastly, that's interesting timing on the stripped thread comment - a cleaned up version of the Bosch method is going in the next Southwest Star Magazine