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Belt tensioner is loose and stripped the bolt over tighten it


89-W-Body-Regal
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My belt tensioner was a cheap aftermarket brand by gates. They are known for making good products but the one I got wasn’t that great. I started tighten back the belt tensioner to tighten my belt. The belt didn’t seem that tight enough because you could still slide the belt off the tensioner. It wasn’t tight enough. When I started the car it started making noises near the tensioner and harmonic balancer. The balancer is good. Didn’t see any movement or wobbling off. I than tried to adjust the tensioner and stripped the bolt over tighten it. The tensioner wouldn’t even tighten back on anymore. Just kept falling off. I know I can’t drive the car without one. I bought a better one and new bolt. Could that fix my issue?

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If you stripped the threads where the tensioner mounts to the engine, then you're going to have to drill out that hole and place an insert in it to fix it.

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They have the inserts at AutoZone and other part stores and the name is just out of reach of my recollection. They are made just for this particular type of SNAFU which is probably due to cross threading, IIRC its a bit easy to cross thread that particular bolt so dont feel bad, sh!t happens.

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It’s not bad at all. The only thing to be careful of is to drill straight, and don’t let the drill wander while you’re drilling, and be sure to use lubricant when you tap the hole..

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Stupid question, but just out of curiousity, what would happen if you just try to put a new bolt in without drilling it?

Would it not go in tight? I’ve done it before and it went in with no issues.

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Stupid question, but just out of curiousity, what would happen if you just try to put a new bolt in without drilling it?

Would it not go in tight? I’ve done it before and it went in with no issues.

if you just stripped the bolt then it'd be fine as long as there's no shavings left in the hole. If you stripped the threads in the hole then a new one wouldn't tighten

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No I just stripped the bolt and wouldn’t turn anymore. It just kept loosening itself when I would tighten it any further. I didn’t snap off the thread in there.

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if you just stripped the bolt then it'd be fine as long as there's no shavings left in the hole. If you stripped the threads in the hole then a new one wouldn't tighten

The bolt is steel, the front cover is aluminum, it's a given which is going to go first.

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The bolt is steel, the front cover is aluminum, it's a given which is going to go first.

So what are you saying? A new bolt wouldn’t tighten it? I didn’t even break off the bolt in the cover. I just over tighten it and the bolt kept being loose. I figured I kept tighten the bolt too much and I stripped it. I thought a new bolt would tighten it down with no issues because it has more of a thread on the bolt.

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So what are you saying? A new bolt wouldn’t tighten it? I didn’t even break off the bolt in the cover. I just over tighten it and the bolt kept being loose. I figured I kept tighten the bolt too much and I stripped it. I thought a new bolt would tighten it down with no issues because it has more of a thread on the bolt.

a new bolt wouldn't do anything if you stripped the threads of the hole, which is most likely what happened. 0

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I checked there is no shavings in the hole and the threads are still seeable. I am going to hope for the best and hope it works. I will use loctite on it like Imp558 said. The loctite might help it from getting loose and I might get lucky if the new bolt does tight.

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So what are you saying? A new bolt wouldn’t tighten it? I didn’t even break off the bolt in the cover. I just over tighten it and the bolt kept being loose. I figured I kept tighten the bolt too much and I stripped it. I thought a new bolt would tighten it down with no issues because it has more of a thread on the bolt.

Aluminum is much softer than a harden steel bolt. If one over tightens such a bolt in this situation the aluminum will go first. The bolt threads will appear shiny and possibly slightly rolled over.

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Well you guys are right. I did strip the threads. The thread in the aluminum cover where the belt tensioner screws onto is stripped. There isn’t any shavings and there isn’t a need for drilling because the hole is deep enough where I don’t have any shavings in it. I bought a thread kit so I need install a new thread in the hole so the bolt won’t contiune to keep spinning and will tight preventing the tensioner falling off. I seen it done before in school where someone stripped a brake caliper bolt and they need to install a new thread. He didn’t even have to drill the hole. He just installed a new thread and it was good to go.

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Are some of the inserts in the kit the same size? I bought the kit that is the size of the bolt that is going to screw into the cover.

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  • 3 weeks later...

So, did you get this done?

 

I tried but the fitting I put in there didn’t tighten the new bolt properly. So I took it to the shop to let them do it.

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