Ive heard the HF torque wrenches are not quite accurate but damn if my $19.99 jobber that goes up to 80 from HF doesn't work great. I probably should spend the $80 for that one for doing the hubs on the truck but... the two I've already done with just using the breaker bar to get the hub nuts tight as hell when they go back on have been totally fine. One I did like 40k miles ago so...

it's a fairly loose fit so that they slide on and off easily.

if you look at the bolt that holds the pulley, you'll see the somewhat conical shaped washer that goes against the bearing. when you tighten the bolt, it will square the bearing to the boss and keep the center of the bearing from turning.

unless it is uber loose after tightening, i don't think i'd spend much time worrying about it. if it was that loose, it'd be the wrong pulley and you'd know it right off.

if the idlers aren't wobbling around when the engine is running, you're good.

double post

i had bad luck with the one HF torque wrench i had. it lasted about 6 months before the ratchet stripped out on one side.

you could still use it if you spun it around to the side that wasn't stripped, so i used it like that for quite a few years. bad part was, you'd get it on a tooth that would hold about 50 lb-ft then it would strip past causing you to go over center and hit your head on the side of your car when you started leaning on it to tighten a wheel lug.

finally got so mad i just threw it away. still had the life time warranty card in the case ... left it in the case with the wrench when i threw the stupid thing out.

replaced it with this:

nice tool for the money. i think i got it for $85 locally. nice long handle making even 180 lb-ft relatively easy to pull (the highest i've used so far). The graduations take some getting used to because each 1/2 turn is 25 lb-ft, but not a big deal.

the only real bad thing about it is that 50 lb-ft is as low as it goes, so i had to buy a smaller 10-100 lb-ft 3/8" drive for the small stuff.

It was the rright pulleys, they matched the ones I pulled off and had the same loose fit, it all snugged up tightly when I tightened the bolts and they definitely do not wobble around so I assume all is well. It's amazing to see the difference, with the old parts the tensioner was dancing around and chasing the tension, as well as the idling was rougher and seemed too low, with a knocking sound that made me think the phasers were going bad. With the new parts, the idling is much smoother and the tensioner is rock solid and doesn't move. The idle sound is now much smoother and quieter, and the knocking went away.. :) It also idles at a better rpm than before. The bearings on the old were really bad, so it's no surprise... It idled at 500-550 rpm before, now it's at 700 and pretty stable at that.

Bottom line, don't assume the worst if you hear knocking or have rough idling, check the drive belt and idlers first and make sure it's in good shape! :) I knew it was bad, just have a way of overthinking the sounds I was hearing... lol

Probably since the idler pulleys should be mounted rigidly.

Well, it's pretty tight when the bolts are tightened.. Anyway, what can be done to fix these? Replace the timing cover?

Yes, or you can helicoil the existing hole to repair the threads.

I'll look into that when I am gonna do the timing set on it, depending on what the timing cover cost. Would be the logical time to replace it if needed, when it's off anyway. Might do the oil pump as well when it's out in the open. but this is a few months down the road, not a pressing issue.. :)