DmaxEter

My 05 eats belts about every 20,000 miles it seems. First one was replaced under warranty. Me and the dodge guy both went top to bottom looking for something that caused it with no luck. Everything is tight, in line and free spinning. When I see an issue like this my first thought is the belt tensioner but it is in great shape. Cant move it in or out with a pry bar and the pulley is great. Has anyone else had this issue??????

Minwy

The tensioner might be too loose causing the belt to slip, a slipping belt does not always make noise. If the bottom of the belt is hard and glazed over its been slipping.

Rpainter

I had a similar problem with my truck eating belts. I broke one belt and started to wear a 2nd belt.come to find out the replacement belt I got from napa was 1/2 inch longer and it was causing the tensioner not to have enough tension on it and it would 'walk" and rub on the pulleys until it broke. It would only "walk"under hard acceleration.

DmaxEter

Thanks guys. The old belts are not glazed over and the edge is not eaten away like a typical tensioner failure. The same thing happens each time. I hear a lite clicking noise and inspect the belt and the forward most two ribs are detactched from the main belt. They are there and still working, its just like I have two belts now, one is just a two rib. The leading edge of the small seperated portion looks great. The middle where it seperates looks great as well. Im at a loss. I got my extra belt behind the seat so when it gives it up I can slap it on there. Luckily the fan clutch wires are routed behind a bracket that protects them. I added some material to the bracket as well since lord knows I have seen way too many fan clutches get replaced due to a simple belt failure!

1-2-3

Did you compare to see if the new is the same size as the older belt? As said. 1/2" wil make a diffrence.

DmaxEter

I dont have the original since it was the first one to do this. I got the one thats on it now but it failed the same way the original one did. I will compare the new Gates replacement I got to the one thats on it and go from there.

Colo_River_Ram

Have you installed the over running alternator pulley..it eliminates belt chirp at shut down which causes belt wear and/or shred..Dodge is aware of this problem and chooses not to fix it on a recall (Nice to know customer safety is a concern at Dodge) Link to TSB:

http://dodgeram.info/tsb/2006/09-004-06.htm

pullin hard

i go through gator back belts every 30,000kms, some about the same as you, i replace mine now every 4-5 months.

mmurray

My '05 belt jumped off the front 2 ribs as well... I heard the taping on start up and as I drove out of my driveway... Luckily, my mechanic was passing by when I pulled over... he turned around to see that I was alright and told me to follow him to the shop.

He called me and told me "generally when this happens" the tensioner is bad... he checked mine and it seemed good... he left it up to me to change or not... he did recomend changing it since that is what "Generally" causes that problem... and to be safe than sorry I had him change the belt and tensioner and I have not had a problem since...

So like he did to me... I would recomend changing the tensioner and belt... Better to be safe than sorry while on the road...

BTW, the tensioner was around $200...

DmaxEter

I have seen so meany issues with belt tensioners in my shop on all other brand of diesel engines so thats what I suspected it was at first. I may jsut throw one at it and see if it sticks. I can always hang on to the old one I guess? What kind of warranty do they offer on the tensioners? I know my OEM is 3Yr 300,000 for heavy duty diesels. I know our cummins aint that but is it under the 1yr 100,000?

mmurray

I never asked about a warranty....

Most everywhere finds a way out of warranty coverage anyway, I've stopped asking!!!

DmaxEter

I can honestly say that I have warrantied stuff that you can obviously tell was lack of maintenence or abuse!

Minwy

I had a powerstroke that did the same as yours, belt was always trying to come off the front of the pulley, its an alignment issue, worn alternator bracket or idler pulley with a slight curve in the shape of it will do it, anything thats not perfectly straight.
My current truck is not having any belt problems, have 42,000 on the original belt so far.

DmaxEter

Thats what the heart breaker of this whole deal is. My powerstroke I had had 144,000+ miles on it when I sold it and had the original belt on it! I couldnt bring myself to change it cause it looked like brand new! I figured as sure as I change it the new one will break. I always keep a spare so no biggie if it does!

wiskeyVI

I keep havin to put holes in mine to make it bigger.