whtbronco
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My 2004 Expedition with 5.4L developed a light engine speed vibration about a week ago. It's primarily noticeable in gear. Anyway, today I decided to check the pulleys and accessories. I didn't actually finish checking them, I checked the alternator and the 3 idler pulleys. Having found that both smooth idler pulleys felt ever so slightly rough and didn't sound right through my stethoscope I went to dealing with them. I should have finished checking things, but you know how it goes I got distracted by the first thing I found. Worse yet while these pulley bearings were not great, they were not likely the cause of the vibration.
I knew I had a new pulley in my attic so I grabbed that to replace the worst of the 2 smooth pulleys. I then decided I wanted to look inside the bearings. These are only 3 year old 41k mile Motorcraft pulleys. What I found was very little dark, chunky and burnt looking grease. For the heck of it I scraped out most of the grease and filled it in with Amsoil grease, it's all I had on hand and it felt much smoother. No real surprise since it was now full of grease. I then did the same thing to pulley the other Motorcraft pulley finding the same scenario. Well heck let's check the new Litens brand pulley. This time I found very little though nice clean silicone like grease. It was translucent white. I scraped out that grease and filled this one with Amsoil grease as well. The grease gun needle made getting some grease under the bearing cage very easy since there's a small gap around the perimeter and the needle allowed me to push some into that gap. Then filled it up. The rubber coated metal seal just pushes back in easily with fingers alone.
To get the rubber coated metal bearing seal out I used a flat head jewelers screw driver and it pretty much just popped out with minor pressure. I put the screwdriver perpendicular to the seal against the outside race and pushed down and kinda rolled the tip of the screwdriver to pull/push the seal out. There's nothing holding the seals in, they are just press fit. Then I used a pair of pliers to straighten out the seal again as all 3 of them bent slightly upon removal. None had damage to the rubber coating though.
One more observation. RockAuto says that Litens is the OE pulley manufacturer. I've had good luck with aftermarket products that RA lists as the OE manufacturer. While Litens might make the Motorcraft pulleys they are not entirely the same part. At least the bearing seal on the Motorcraft bearings says Litens and Canada. The Litens seal says NTN and China.
The worst part is yesterday the vibration was worse than it was before I started, LOL. Go figure. I can now feel it a little bit not in gear, but it's much more significant in gear moving or not. Anyway, this post is really just to share my findings on the pulley bearings. I did a bit of checking yesterday evening with my stethoscope again and am questioning the belt tensioner pulley. However, today I'll pull the belt off and fire it up to prove or rule out all the pulleys and accessories in 1 shot, like I should have done to start with.
Factory pulleys - 12yrs 186k miles
Motorcraft replacement pulleys - 3yrs 41k miles
I've installed 3 sets following the factory pulleys, none of the replacements lasted very long. In fact all 3 sets combined didn't last as long as the factory set. Maybe a lack of grease in the replacements is the reason.
Sorry no pics, I didn't have access to my wife's cell phone and I was too lazy to get the old DLSR camera out.
I knew I had a new pulley in my attic so I grabbed that to replace the worst of the 2 smooth pulleys. I then decided I wanted to look inside the bearings. These are only 3 year old 41k mile Motorcraft pulleys. What I found was very little dark, chunky and burnt looking grease. For the heck of it I scraped out most of the grease and filled it in with Amsoil grease, it's all I had on hand and it felt much smoother. No real surprise since it was now full of grease. I then did the same thing to pulley the other Motorcraft pulley finding the same scenario. Well heck let's check the new Litens brand pulley. This time I found very little though nice clean silicone like grease. It was translucent white. I scraped out that grease and filled this one with Amsoil grease as well. The grease gun needle made getting some grease under the bearing cage very easy since there's a small gap around the perimeter and the needle allowed me to push some into that gap. Then filled it up. The rubber coated metal seal just pushes back in easily with fingers alone.
To get the rubber coated metal bearing seal out I used a flat head jewelers screw driver and it pretty much just popped out with minor pressure. I put the screwdriver perpendicular to the seal against the outside race and pushed down and kinda rolled the tip of the screwdriver to pull/push the seal out. There's nothing holding the seals in, they are just press fit. Then I used a pair of pliers to straighten out the seal again as all 3 of them bent slightly upon removal. None had damage to the rubber coating though.
One more observation. RockAuto says that Litens is the OE pulley manufacturer. I've had good luck with aftermarket products that RA lists as the OE manufacturer. While Litens might make the Motorcraft pulleys they are not entirely the same part. At least the bearing seal on the Motorcraft bearings says Litens and Canada. The Litens seal says NTN and China.
The worst part is yesterday the vibration was worse than it was before I started, LOL. Go figure. I can now feel it a little bit not in gear, but it's much more significant in gear moving or not. Anyway, this post is really just to share my findings on the pulley bearings. I did a bit of checking yesterday evening with my stethoscope again and am questioning the belt tensioner pulley. However, today I'll pull the belt off and fire it up to prove or rule out all the pulleys and accessories in 1 shot, like I should have done to start with.
Factory pulleys - 12yrs 186k miles
Motorcraft replacement pulleys - 3yrs 41k miles
I've installed 3 sets following the factory pulleys, none of the replacements lasted very long. In fact all 3 sets combined didn't last as long as the factory set. Maybe a lack of grease in the replacements is the reason.
Sorry no pics, I didn't have access to my wife's cell phone and I was too lazy to get the old DLSR camera out.
This is a great thread. I'd replaced the pulleys and tensioner on my '05 at right about 200k. Not because of vibration, but due to a distinct little chirp. And it probably chirped for 10k before I got a "round toit". I've still got the set in a box in the garage. I bet when I open the seals I'll find exactly what you describe. I'm not complaining at 17-18 years of service and 200k. I've got about 40k on the new set, so far so good. Thanks for the write-up and the photos. If I find anything significant, I'll add a photo -- but then again, I doubt functional, but chirping, at the same age and same rough mileage as yours will turn up anything exciting or significant.
