**The Importance of Proper Pulley Alignment and Belt Selection**

When it comes to maintaining your vehicle's engine, there are several factors that can cause issues and lead to costly repairs. One common problem is pulley misalignment, which occurs when the pulleys are not completely straight. This can cause a squeak or squealing noise, especially with belts like Daco belts, which are notorious for making noise due to slight misalignments. In this article, we will discuss the causes of pulley misalignment and how it affects your vehicle's performance.

**Identifying Pulley Misalignment**

Pulley misalignment is literally just when the pulleys are not completely straight. This can be caused by a variety of factors, including one pulley being stuck out slightly while the rest are in line or vice versa. The idler pulley and alternator pulley are common culprits of this issue. If you're experiencing a squeal or squeaking noise under your hood, it's likely due to a slight misalignment. Fortunately, this is not a cause for concern and can be easily fixed with the right solution.

**The Solution: Replacing the Belt**

One of the most effective solutions for pulley misalignment is replacing the belt with a new one. In this case, the author recommends using a Gator back belt, which has features such as ridges that help keep it quiet and eliminate squeaking noises. The Gator back belt is designed to address the issues caused by slight misalignments, making it an excellent choice for vehicles with pulley alignment problems.

**Inspecting the Belt**

Before installing a new belt, it's essential to inspect the old one to determine its condition. In this case, the author notes that the original Daco belt was brand new and had less than 5,000 miles on it but still squeaked from day one. The author replaced the belt with a Gator back belt, which has several design features that help keep it quiet.

**The Difference Between Daco and Gator Back Belts**

One of the key differences between Daco and Gator back belts is their design. The Gator back belt has ridges and other features that help to eliminate squeaking noises caused by slight misalignments. This makes it an excellent choice for vehicles with pulley alignment issues.

**Installing the New Belt**

With the new belt in hand, the author proceeds to install it. By listening carefully to the engine compartment, they identify where the noise was coming from and proceed to inspect the pulleys. The alternator pulley is found to have a slight play, while the idler pulley has a noticeable wobble.

**The Importance of Regular Maintenance**

Regular maintenance is essential for preventing issues like pulley misalignment. By listening carefully to your engine compartment and checking the belts regularly, you can identify problems before they become major issues. In this case, the author notes that it's not uncommon for bad bearings to cause a squeal or squeaking noise.

**The Role of Emergency Backup Belts**

Even with proper maintenance, emergency backup belts are essential for unexpected situations. The author recommends folding an old belt and storing it in a safe place as a backup in case of an emergency. This can help prevent you from being stranded without a working belt.

In conclusion, pulley misalignment is a common issue that can cause squeaking noises and other problems with your vehicle's engine. By identifying the causes of this issue and selecting the right solution, such as replacing the belt with a Gator back belt, you can keep your vehicle running smoothly and prevent costly repairs. Regular maintenance and emergency backup belts are also essential for preventing issues like pulley misalignment and keeping your vehicle on the road.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHey guys ChrisFix here you hear the squeaking noise today?I'm gonna show you how to tell where the squeaking noise is coming from whether it's a bell or a pulley and if it's thebelt I'm gonna explain why it could be the belt there's different reasons why the belt might squeak and if it's the pulley I'm gonnaShow you how to diagnose which pulley is causing the noise and why it might be causing a noises a bat bearing is a pulleyMisalignment and have a very useful and easy method to show you how to do all thisSo before we begin, I want you to pay attention here in this carThe fan is on all the time in some cars. Your fan isn't going to be on all the time either wayKeep your hands clear of this fan. It'll take your finger off. It's not safeSo there are four common causes for belt noise one is the belt is old itself belts last anywhere from five years50,000 miles to over ten years 100,000 miles and it really depends but around five years 50,000 milesyou might start having enough belt wear to cause some squeaking the next common cause ofSqueaking is your bearing in the pulley. You have a bunch of pulleys hereYou have power steering you have air conditioning you have idler pulleys tensioner. Pulleys alternator pulleysAll these pulleys have bearings in them and eventually bearings go bad typicallyIt's either an idler pulley bearing or it's a tensioner pulley bearing that goes badBut you can have other pulleys that go bad such as the alternator or power steering if that ends up being the case I haveVideos on how to replace both of those I'll put those video links in the description belowThe other common cause of belt squeak is the belt tension the tensioner on a belt is usually automatic tensionerIt's just a spring-loaded pulley. And this pulley puts just the right amount of pressure on the beltSo if your belt is worn out the pulley might not be able to give you enough pressure on the beltso it slips and that causes a squeak usually when that's the case if you turn your air conditioner on or if you're making aTurn and your power steering pump goes onThat's when you'll hear the squeak and I'll get into a little bit more about that in a couple secondsAnother symptom of a bad belt tensioner or not having enough or too much tension on the beltIs that in the morning when it's humid out or when your belt is a little wet from do you start it up? AndIt makes a loud squealing noise and that loud squealing noise goes awayOr if you use the water method and spread the belt with water and it squeals that usually means there's a problem with the belttensionso it could be an old belt that's stretched out or your belt tensioner spring is worn out new belt tensioner and theFinal common problem is a pulley misalignment. Actually, this is probably the most common problemSo in this situation, you can hear the belt squeak that my truck has yours might sound differentYours might sound the same either way. I'm about to show you how to diagnose the squeakThe first thing you want to do is get a spray bottle with just plain water in it and spray it on the RHIB sideOf the belt find the easiest pulley to spray just squirt it on thereYou don't need a lot and you could hear right away the belt stops squeaking now. The belt is still movingThe pulleys are still moving. So since the noise went away and all the pulleys are still movingYou have a good idea that this probably isn't a bearing in a pulley nowLet's say you still hear the noise after you spray the belt and the noise is the same noise. It doesn't changeThat means the problem is probably a bad bearing in a pulley if you spray the belt and the noise gets louder your belt tensionIs probably too tight or it's too loose and that could be due to a bad tensioner pulley or a worn-out beltWhich is stretched out do the Aged now for this situation here the belt got quiet with waterSo we have either a bad belt or a pulley misalignmentSo we're gonna look for the pulley misalignment firstAll you have to do is look at each pulley and you just want to see if the belt is riding straight on the pulleyOr if it's moving side-to-side you could also watch the pulley itselfIf you look at the edge of the pulley and make sure the pulley is running trueSo it's running straight if the pulley is wobbling that could cause the belt to squeakSo we're gonna look at the power steering pump pulley firstThat looks good. It's running nice and straight. We're gonna look at the air conditioner compressor pulley nextThat also looks pretty good. I might be seeing some belt movement from side to sideIt's hard to tell it's a very very small amountSo we're gonna investigate further, but you could see the pulley itself is running trueIt's nice and straight and even the belt is running pretty straightEven though we might be seeing a little side-to-side movement now, we'll move over to the idler pulley the idler pulleyLooks like it's running straight. The squeak does sound like it's coming from this general areaSo it's definitely good to try to locate the general areaThe squeak is coming from is it coming from the left side the engine the right side underneath up top?We'll move over to the alternator because I don't really see anything hereNow here you can see something the alternator pulley is running trueIt's nice and straight but check out that belt that belt is definitely wobbling back and forthThat little wobble is enough to make a squeak. Remember the belt is under pressure and it's spinning pretty quickSo that right there could be where we have our squeak problem and you could kind of hear that the belt is starting to squeakAgain, so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna get some water and just make sure that the squeak goes awayandAgain, we spread some water on there and the squeak goes awaynow the belt on my truck is brand new we tested the belt with the water the noise went away and we did see thebelt move side to side on the alternator pulley just a little bit so all of those thingsLead me to think that this is a pulley misalignment issueNow the belt that I'm using is a daco belt and they are notorious for squeaking with a very slight pulley misalignmentPulley misalignment is literally just when the pulleys are not completely straightMaybe one pulley like the idler pulley is sticking out a little bit and the rest of the pulleys are in or maybe your alternatorPulleys in too far and the rest of pulleys are out. Either way. The belt isn't completely straight now a slight pulley misalignmentIt doesn't do anything. It doesn't hurt your car or anything, but it will cause that annoying squeakSo the solution for that is to use a different belt. Like I said, this belt is brand newIt has less than 5,000 miles on it. It started squeaking from day oneSo what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna replace it with one of these Gator back beltsAnd you can see right on the package. It says the quiett beltI'll put a link in the description to where you could get itI highly recommend these belts if you're having a pulley misalignment type of squeak and I'll show you why in a couple secondsWith the belt out you can see this thing is brand newIt looks really good. It's just squeaking like crazythe other thing is you could see the difference in design between the Gator back belt and the Daco belt the Gator back belt hasAll these ridges and stuff and I think that helps in keeping it quiet for a pulley misalignmentSo let's go install this bad boyOkay, so let's start it up with the new Gator back belt on there and see if we get any squeakSo what do you know sounds like it's working great no more squeaking finally, how's you driving me crazy?We check out the alternator pulley. You can see look at thatIt's still kind of moving back and forthBut the squeak is gone it so goes to show you that the Gator back belt does a good job with the holy misalignment issue?Now in this situation we didn't have a bearing issue. There's no bad bearings making a noisewellLet's just say you did what you would do to find the bad bearing is you would listen in the engine compartmentFor where you think the noise is coming from in this situation. It sounded like it was coming from over here somewhereSo what you would do is you'd go and with the engine off obviouslyGrab the pulley and shake the pulley back and forth and that pulleys should be solidIt shouldn't move some pulleys might have a little play. Usually the power steering pulley has a little play in itMine's actually pretty tight, which is goodBut sometimes they have a little play and there are some tolerances you can't have some play in some pulleysFor example, we look here at the idler pulley. ICan move that just a little bit?Now it's not moving a lot. But there is a slight play to it. And that's okay for this idler pulleyThat's common on FordsBut now you wouldn't want to see that play in a alternator pulley and the alternator pulley here is not moving at allIt's nice and solid if you want to take the belt off and wiggle the pulleys back and forth if you can't find the pulleyThat's bad. Usually a bad bearing will cause the pulley to wobble a lot. So that pretty much covers everythingSo if you have a squeal or squeak under your hoodYou'll be able to find what's causing the problem and you'll be able to fix itHopefully this video was helpful. If it was remember to give it a thumbs upalsoIf you're now subscriber while you waiting for hit that subscribe buttonNow the top tip for this video is you have that old belt or in this caseIt's a new belt, but let's just say your belt was actually old and worn out don't throw it outIt's a good emergency backup belt to keep in your car or your truckWhat I like to do is I like to fold it up. Put it back in here and thenI'll put this underneath my seatActually, you can see I already have an old belt here which is under my seat this is my original beltYou can see all the cracking and stuff on itSo I'll remove the original belt and put the new belt under the seat for a backupNow if you're on a trail or if you're driving somewhere belt snaps or something happens for some strange reason you won't be stranded\n"