rusty pulley

[phaeton]

rusty pulley seems to be chewing up (well slowly creating dust and now an audible complaint from belts)the v belt driving water and alternator.<br />Is it easy to pull the pulley from the crank or easier to trat it in situe - access is reasonable for an arm!<br />How would you treat it? Rub back hard and paint (with what?). Use a 'rust treatment' such as phosphoric acid or similar then just leave it?<br /><br />Looking forwards to those 'been there - done it' comments.

 

[Don S]

Re: rusty pulley

I do this several times a year (on customers boats). Remove the pulleys, sand all the rust and pits off the pulleys. Then paint with a good enamel paint, then let dry for a day or two if possible (that's the important part) so the belt doesn't peal the paint right back off.<br />I use a 4-1/2" right angle sander with about a 120 grit and spin the pulley on a shaft in the vise. Powersteering pump pulleys, alternator pulleys and the water pump pulleys also suffer the same problem.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: rusty pulley

phaeton, I had the same issue with both the waterpump pulley as well as the main engine pulley. After sanding the waterpump pulley, I noticed the metal was separating, since it was so thin, so I replaced it. I also sanded the main pulley down, primed with Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. That stuff works very well. Also watch for rust on the timing chain cover and oil pan. When they leak you got problems!

 

[phaeton]

Re: rusty pulley

Thanks for that advice - it's the main pulley that is bad as it suffered when some nasty salt water got in to the engine bay a few years back.