Tooling down the street this morning and suddenly the power steering goes out, battery light pops on and the heat gauge starts moving the wrong way.

Dang, looks as though something went wrong with my new drive belt. Since I was close to home I decided to get it to my garage.

Upon inspection, I discovered the idler pully had disintigrated and began removal of the attached housing........"WAIT". This sucker has a pretty strong spring behind it and I have never fooled with one of these so here I am and good morning to all.

What precautions if any do I need with removal of this thing?

Any input will be much appreciated-------thanks.

Pops

 

You don't need to worry about the spring it's enclosed and not a hazard even if you remove the whole assembly from the bracket. You don't however need to remove the whole thing you can just remove the bolt for the wheel itself and slide that off, and if the wheel isn't damaged the bearing can be replaced.

 

Some of those have left hand threads

 

After over fifty years of working on everything from a model A Ford to a 426 Hemi I'm showing my age for getting the idler pulley and the tension pulley mixed up.
As soon as I discovered my mistake I beat it on down to my friendly Ford dealer and order the tension pulley with bracket...(the only way it comes) for $116.00

Thanks Conanski & bashby for your help.

Pops