GP Light Weight Protege pulleys

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P/Steering Pulley

Finally got around to installing the powersteering pulley (got here late, so it had to wait), and the grooves are machined incorrectly.
I saw a few other people mentioned it, but it was never addressed by Brach.

Gasological said:
Installed the lightweight accessory pulleys from Brach saturday. Either the PS pulley grooves aren't spaced quite right, or my belts are off. The belt gets a cup shape once installed because the ribs don't mesh with the grooves properly. New belt I bought jumped a rib when I turned the car over the first time. No visible problems with the other pulleys.
Click to expand...

One guy mentioned that since it didn't squeel, it'll be ok for him.
But I paid too much for the pulley to tear up belts prematurely; especially with how bad the alignment is on this one.

Pictured is the old belt.
I purchased a new belt as well, which lined up the same way.

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metallargy said:
Finally got around to installing the powersteering pulley (got here late, so it had to wait), and the grooves are machined incorrectly.
I saw a few other people mentioned it, but it was never addressed by Brach.



One guy mentioned that since it didn't squeel, it'll be ok for him.
But I paid too much for the pulley to tear up belts prematurely; especially with how bad the alignment is on this one.

Pictured is the old belt.
I purchased a new belt as well, which lined up the same way.

attachment.php
Click to expand...

great thats a protege one too huh? I have mine waiting to be installed...
 
(bang) great!.....has anyone installed the whole set of pulleys yet? any other issues to report....i'm getting tired of all this.... :(
 
Correct, look at the belt compared to the pulley. How far it's pressed or not is irrelevant to the belt/pulley not matching. Mine wasn't like that.
 
Maybe the question that should be asked is what brand of belt was used in that picture VS what i12drivemyMP5 used...
 
I had goodyear gatorbacks before pulley swap. Used same belts after swap, have no noise, have no belt destruction & it hasn't come off or anything like that. Took 1 extra adj to stop squeal & that was only for a few seconds when turning on AC compressor. Retightened both a tad & no more squeal. It does appear that the back edge of the belt is microscopically raised compared to oem but nothing that's causing a problem but definitely not off like the pic that was posted. The front of the pwr steering pulley is completely flush with shaft like oem was.
 
CulRidr said:
Maybe the question that should be asked is what brand of belt was used in that picture VS what i12drivemyMP5 used...
Click to expand...

It's a Gates belt, not that it matters.
It's not like it's close ... its way off. And I've got a new belt that has the same spacing.
The groove width on serpentine belts are the same car from car, so I could use an OEM Toyota belt on it if it's a 5-grove and close enough in length, but it wouldn't matter if the pulley's machined incorrectly.

Speaking of, the belts used with a 2.0L Unorthodox UDP are off a Dodge Minivan & Mitsubishi Montero. Industry standard groove widths.

Brand would be relevant if we were talking about noise, but I'm talking about physically not fitting.

i12drivemyMP5 said:
I had goodyear gatorbacks before pulley swap. Used same belts after swap, have no noise, have no belt destruction & it hasn't come off or anything like that. Took 1 extra adj to stop squeal & that was only for a few seconds when turning on AC compressor. Retightened both a tad & no more squeal. It does appear that the back edge of the belt is microscopically raised compared to oem but nothing that's causing a problem but definitely not off like the pic that was posted. The front of the pwr steering pulley is completely flush with shaft like oem was.
Click to expand...

Gatorbacks are more forgiving of pulley damage, misalignment, etc because of the serration and extra groove spacing (ie - smaller ribs). IIRC, that's why they were designed.
I shouldn't have to use a trick belt (such as a Gatorback) to use a pulley fashioned for OEM fitment. Especially since I've got low mileage belts already.

Even with your "trick belt", it's still not perfect, just driveable.
That still indicates a pulley problem.
 
Well, I don't think perfect exists much these days. The belt isn't cup shaped if you look at it where it's on the pulley. It's only noticeable because I'm all obsessive compulsive about every nut/bolt/setting on the car. Not sure anyone would even notice it. Like I said, it's nothing like the pic above, it just feels like a new fat unused belt vs. a used one. I don't drive at WOT every second the car's running or nothing like that but it has visited that on more than a few occassions & I have no qualms about it's fit or longevity. It has been plenty tested. That one in the pic is nothing like mine. I compared mine to oem when installing & overall it didn't look measurably different.
 
Hmm ... guess I'll have to bust out the dial caliper and compare Brachs pulley vs stock.
Side by side they looked the same, but that was just eyeballing to make sure it's the correct part before installing it.

The face of my pulley is flush with the pulley hub stub, so I'm not sure why everyone's saying it looks like it's pushed on too far.

And by 'perfect', I meant a belt that rides like it's designed to.
It's supposed to be flat; if not, it indicates a problem.
 
The difference in the pullies lies more in the thickness of the grooves, not the pulley as a whole. If you purchased the other pullies from Brach you can see that the grooves on the alt and W/P pullies are thinner. Not sure why the P/S is slightly thicker, but it is. I know that it should line up better, but if it's any consolation, or inspires confidence. I took my car to the track a month ago and ran it all day. Made 14 passes with no problems. I've checked the belt and there are NO signs of wear.
 
I have the alternator pulley ... and it fit perfect.

Brach said he's sending me another pulley. Didn't mention anything about knowing it was machined wrong, etc.
 
Can someone whose received some screws please look at the difference between them and the ones that came with the pulley? I simply don't understand why we needed them in the first place, and why we can't simply use some loctite to lock the ones we already have. If there is a reason for the new ones, can someone measure the difference in length, take pictures, calculate the thread count, etc, etc, so that we can get these screws ourselves? I'm tired of waiting, and want to get these installed...
 
the old screws were philips head and tapered and sat flush with the timing ring. the new ones are allen heads, slightly less tapered and have a lip larger than the holes so it sits on top of the timing ring and holds it on. i swapped mine last week or so. still have yet to install my pulleys. been lazy. the holes in the ring have a slight taper as well. the differences i noticed was that because of the shorter taper on the new screws there is a lot more thread. i think the new ones were a little longer IIRC. seems like it sits better in there too. i did not check the thread pitch or anything so i don't know if it was different. i just know i turned it more to put it in than i did removing the old screws.
 
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