sealed bearings for pulleys?? engine cleaning??

[survivorman]

Ok guys have a question for you......I was reading a thread the other night and noticed ALOT of people had issues with there FJs after taking them out in mud and water. Seems that the bearings on the pulleys are not sealed and the mud and crap seizes them up.....this to me is bull**** especially on a 4x4 like the FJ.....so my questions to you all:


1. Does anyone sell sealed bearings for pulleys?



2. what is the proper way to clean the engine after offroading? what is safe to spray under the hood? what should not get wet?

[nissanaltimacrazyhorse]

i dont know if there are after market pulleys but if there out there im buying a set. Also proper cleaning theres a thread on here were someone took the pullies off and cleaned them, but to me that sounds like a big pain in the butt to do.

Alot of people have had pulley problems and the dealer has fixed them no questions asked under warranty.

[Decidion]

A lot? What do you mean by a lot? I've seen a few posts, but have you compiled any hard numbers?

In our local club of 100+ FJs, of which I would say about 25-30 are active offroaders that really get down and dirty, I know of only one instance of pulley problems (and the dealer replaced them free of charge). This works out to 3 to 4% of the group. Maybe that's enough for some folks to say a lot, but I wouldn't call it a rampant problem. It certainly isn't Six Sigma, but it doesn't seem like "ALOT" to me. And that one could have been an abberation to the norm.

If you look at how many people answered the 'have you replaced a pulley' poll, there have been 81 replacements. Not to say all 18,800+ forum members have viewed the poll, but if even half of them had, that is still less than 1% of the membership that had a replacement done.

I'm not disputing that some may have a desire to install better aftermarket pulley bearings, but lets not make it sound like this is another windshield issue

[chris2]

I'm on my third set, in our group of about 10-15 4 have had them replaced.

[survivorman]

was at toyota today......they told me basically dont be scared to get anything wet under the hood for cleaning....spray away.....is this true?


and yes the tech told me there have been issues with pulleys but they replace them free of charge......he just told me that if I go offroading clean the engine area especially the pulleys very well after and all will be good....lets hope he is right

[tibaal89]

Out here in AZ the pulley failure is fairly common. I know a number of people who have had them replaced, some multiple times. Mine have been replaced once - on warranty with no hassle as stated above.

As for the washing - I recklessly attack it with the hose...

See the pic below. If there's enough water and crap flying around to cause this while driving, a little hose sprinkler shouldn't hurt anything.

[fingas74]

I have looked around online and have found that this is not a problem only plaguing FJs. Idler pulleys are vunerable in general. I have asked the millwrights and the rotating equipment guys at work and the response i am getting is that they don't make a truly sealed bearing in the size that would fit the idler pulleys in the FJ.

[nissanaltimacrazyhorse]

can someone take a picture of the pullies on the truck so i no were to wash

And sorry to start a panic i just have read some threads. But my dealer has yet to see any pulley problematic fjs.

[fjmaineiac]

I have replaced mine twice, Rhurbarb had a really good idea make sure there clean first, but spray them with silicone spray and that seems to help..

[jamesart86]

I'm going to talk to my uncle. He's a machinist and used to have a side biz making undersized puuleys for ford lightnings....