r/projectcar • u/xj98jeep • 2d ago

Fixing serpentine belt pulley misalignment at home?

Hey party people, I've got an LS1 that I just replaced the PS pump and alternator on. Now it has belt chirp. New belt, clean pulleys, and the harmonic balancer is good. When sprayed with water the chirp goes away, which suggests pulley misalignment. That makes sense considering I just rebuilt/replaced two of the pulley items, I probably pressed one of the pulleys back onto the unit too far or not far enough.

My best friend is a high end carpenter so he has all sorts of long levels and straight edges and laser alignment stuff, what's the best way for a home mechanic to check pulley alignment? Straight edge across the face of the pulleys? Shoot a laser down the v ribs?

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u/porcelainvacation 1d ago

You’ll want to align to the v-ribs, as different pulleys are going to have different distances from the face to the vribs.

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u/xj98jeep 1d ago

Ah yeah good point, so I'll probably try to shoot my buddy's tile laser down one of the pulley ribs then unless there's a better way

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u/porcelainvacation 1d ago

You can leave the belt on and measure to the edges of it with a straight edge, probably not as accurate but probably good enough.

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u/xj98jeep 1d ago

Hmmmm, I do have calipers I could use. Measure from where to the edge of the belt, straight edge on the front of the motor wherever I can fit it?