W211 AMG Discuss the W211 AMG's such as the E55 and the E63

After pinning, dyno tune, driving 100 miles, new look at the 195mm RTR pulley wobble

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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 11:33 AM
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After pinning, dyno tune, driving 100 miles, new look at the 195mm RTR pulley wobble

This pulley has started to wobble so badly that it is scuffing my water pump pulley, see pic below. It was straight as an arrow after install with belts on and pre dyno. This wobble developed after the dyno and 100 miles of driving.


Video of the pulley at idle.....


Last edited by chawkins2001; Apr 16, 2012 at 02:50 PM.
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 12:21 PM
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 12:25 PM
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Dude....get that sucker off now!
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 12:39 PM
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keep me posted and i'll do the same with my situation.
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 12:57 PM
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Why don't you combo a small SC pulley and a 180 or 175 to get to the 195 size?
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 01:28 PM
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It is coming off, there are a few guys running large cranks pulleys from ASP with zero issues. I just wanted to document what is happening with my setup.

The trial of events are as follows:

1)My RTR pulley threw the belt while on the dyno, wrapped the belt around my crank pulley, and the crank pulley spun on my crank snout, hurting my keyway, and woodruff key.
2)We took it off, cleaned the snout, bought another woodruff key, and pinned the crank and pulley.
3)During that time I notified Steve(e55amgrocket), and he noticed his RTR 195mm started to wobble slightly, and scuff his water pump pulley.
4)We got my car back on the dyno, but before any pulls were made, noticed the RTR looked straight as an arrow with zero wobble, so the dyno tuning commenced and was finished up.
5)Steve had his pulley throw a belt while at MIR, and upon closer inspection, the crank bolt had work itself out with the pulley wobbling violently, result was failure, and crank pulley stuck on his crank snout now after the crank bolt was taken out.
6)During that time I had put on 100 miles of street driving and this past weekend, I saw how bad my RTR was wobbling, and also started to scuff my water pump pulley.

The outer ring bolts are tight, and the last time we check the crank bolt after it was on the dyno, it had not moved. Between that spot check, and 100 miles of street driving, the result above is the current state of the issue.

I feel the harmonic dampner on these are off, and not up to factory spec. After talking to a reputable friend of mine that knows these cars better than anyone else, they agreed with my logic. These dont use the factory pulley which has the MB tested harmonic balancer like the welded ASP design does, and that is one of the flaws.

This also happened several years ago with the bolted ASP pulleys, as soon as they went to the welded design, the wobble issue went away.

You seeing a trend going on here????????????????????????

I am f*****g pissed off about this, as I have a track day coming up that looks like it needs to be aborted now.

Last edited by chawkins2001; Apr 16, 2012 at 01:37 PM.
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 01:45 PM
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This definitely bites given what you've been through getting your car back on the road. Seems like welded ASP pullies are the only ones that haven't had issues at some point.
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 01:47 PM
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I'm sure your friend is right. A combination of the bolt on design with a non-factory dampener is likely the reason for failure. I hope you can get another pulley ASAP and get your beast out to the track on the 28th. Good luck, Craig.
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 01:57 PM
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woohhh that looks super shady... id be scared to even let it idle
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 01:59 PM
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Wishing you good luck with getting those pulley issues finally squared away.
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 02:07 PM
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Originally Posted by jmb614
I'm sure your friend is right. A combination of the bolt on design with a non-factory dampener is likely the reason for failure. I hope you can get another pulley ASAP and get your beast out to the track on the 28th. Good luck, Craig.


He is, I have alot of respect for his knowledge with respects to this platform, and I value his opinion.
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 02:20 PM
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Interesting.


A friend installed an ASP pulley on his E55 about 6 months ago, and it thrown 3 or 4 belts since then.


With that said, my OEM pulley has a bit of a wobble.... I don't have any records of the pulley ever being replaced, and the car has 143k miles.
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 02:22 PM
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Originally Posted by chawkins2001
It is coming off, there are a few guys running large cranks pulleys from ASP with zero issues. I just wanted to document what is happening with my setup.

The trial of events are as follows:

1)My RTR pulley threw the belt while on the dyno, wrapped the belt around my crank pulley, and the crank pulley spun on my crank snout, hurting my keyway, and woodruff key.
2)We took it off, cleaned the snout, bought another woodruff key, and pinned the crank and pulley.
3)During that time I notified Steve(e55amgrocket), and he noticed his RTR 195mm started to wobble slightly, and scuff his water pump pulley.
4)We got my car back on the dyno, but before any pulls were made, noticed the RTR looked straight as an arrow with zero wobble, so the dyno tuning commenced and was finished up.
5)Steve had his pulley throw a belt while at MIR, and upon closer inspection, the crank bolt had work itself out with the pulley wobbling violently, result was failure, and crank pulley stuck on his crank snout now after the crank bolt was taken out.
6)During that time I had put on 100 miles of street driving and this past weekend, I saw how bad my RTR was wobbling, and also started to scuff my water pump pulley.

The outer ring bolts are tight, and the last time we check the crank bolt after it was on the dyno, it had not moved. Between that spot check, and 100 miles of street driving, the result above is the current state of the issue.

I feel the harmonic dampner on these are off, and not up to factory spec. After talking to a reputable friend of mine that knows these cars better than anyone else, they agreed with my logic. These dont use the factory pulley which has the MB tested harmonic balancer like the welded ASP design does, and that is one of the flaws.

This also happened several years ago with the bolted ASP pulleys, as soon as they went to the welded design, the wobble issue went away.

You seeing a trend going on here????????????????????????

I am f*****g pissed off about this, as I have a track day coming up that looks like it needs to be aborted now.
The way your luck has been running, I am sure the future will be brighter my firend.

Here's wishing you some MUCH needed Good luck
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 02:29 PM
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Wow, that video looks bad. If the outer pulley ring bolts are tight, what aspect of the pulley is out of true? The whole thing?

Good luck getting it sorted - sorry to see it; these kinds of issues are no fun at all.
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 02:47 PM
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Redtooth needs to step up here, as I have money invested in the initial 195mm pulley kit that got hurt, we then paid for another kit to be sent to BIP for the second go around.

At this point, I want everything I have from RTR in my possession sent back, and refund issued, NUFF SAID. TIRED of dealing with this, not to mention who knows what the wobbling could have done to my drivetrain and internals. I am not a damn test mule for their R&D products.

Last edited by chawkins2001; Apr 16, 2012 at 02:49 PM.
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 03:03 PM
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Originally Posted by chawkins2001
Redtooth needs to step up here, as I have money invested in the initial 195mm pulley kit that got hurt, we then paid for another kit to be sent to BIP for the second go around.

At this point, I want everything I have from RTR in my possession sent back, and refund issued, NUFF SAID. TIRED of dealing with this, not to mention who knows what the wobbling could have done to my drivetrain and internals. I am not a damn test mule for their R&D products.
At least not willingly my friend. GOOD luck with everything
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 03:09 PM
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That's really sux to hear. That's the price of being a pioneer. Get back and be even stronger next round.
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 03:19 PM
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What you mean pioneer, larger pulleys have been around from the begining of time, I did nothing new here.

Manufacturer needs to step up, see what is going on here, and warranty their product. After two bad run ins, I am fedup and done. It is my choice to bring it out into the open for the members to form their own opinions.
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 03:21 PM
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That sucks!!! Call up asp and get ready for your track day. Don't run the car with that wobble, I wouldn't even idle it anymore. I've seen another pulley do the same thing. Not good news at all
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 04:32 PM
  #20  
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Thanks Ahmad, I am done spending anymore money on pullies right now. Until I hear from Redtooth, the car will just sit under a cover in my garage.

It is a shame, so close but so far from making it to my track day. 10's will just have to wait
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 04:34 PM
  #21  
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Sorry to see all the headaches you have gone through w this new pulley. 2 rtr pulleys w same results isnt good at all.
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 06:45 PM
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craig give patrick at pte a call . he may have a fluidamper pulley that would work for you
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 06:50 PM
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Never F with crank pullies
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 07:47 PM
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Way back in 05, i did some testing with pullies. Here is what i found...
I built several styles-all cutom for cutomers.
The ONLY pullies that would work are the pullies that were dampened all the way to the end. See, that RTR is internally dampened to the accessory belt, but not to the charger belt...it appears to be bolted to the accessory belt pulley. So, ALL of the harmonics are going through a small area. It really is tough on the pulley at large sizes and stresses

Just for clarity, i did just buy the smaller charger pulley from Shardul and can't wait to install it.
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Old Apr 16, 2012 | 08:48 PM
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That is exactly what I think the issue is Donnie, harmonics with this design is not correct. This design is very new, and I know for a fact that 4 customers have had these pullies fall right off their cars from wobble to backing out the crank bolt.
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