98 Expedition Idler Pullet OEM Or Aftermarket?

[Fitz98]

98 Expedition, 5.4 4x4 188K miles
The bearings in my idler pulley seem to be dry and noisy, (can hear the bearings rolling when spinning on center axis) but no noticeable play.
The dealer bearing is 60.00, aftermarkets are about 20-30.00. The aftermarket choices seem to be Dayco, Dorman and Litens. Dorman has lifetime warranty, Dayco has 1 year.
Should I spend the extra money for the OEM pulley, or are the aftermarket ones equal or better than OEM?
Also, dealer sells tensioner assembly for 90.00. Advanced has Carquest and Litens for about 45.00 (Looking at the Litens image, the bearing is stamped made in China). Not sure about the carquest. Do these tensioners have a life expectency? Should I change it while I am in there or maybe just replace the tensioner pully? I haven't pulled it yet to see how those bearings are.

 

[jk_636]

Aftermarket. Go to rock auto and pick up Gates brand idlers, tensioners, belts, etc. They are pretty much the gold standard and you may as well change out everything while your there in the general area.

 

[JamesBond]

Check into re-greasing the bearing, I plan on doing this in the near future to a ford idler, lucas xtra heavy duty grease seems to be the right grease for this.

Dorman stuff is usually looked down on.

 

[Fitz98]

Is there any concerns with the amount of plastic used in the Gates components or does that somehow make it better?

 

[jk_636]

Originally Posted By: Fitz98
Is there any concerns with the amount of plastic used in the Gates components or does that somehow make it better?


I just replaced my tensioner and idler assembly with Gates from rock auto and the difference was night and day. The only plastic on my part were the pulleys. Everything else was steel.

 

[KD0AXS]

Don't waste money on a whole new tensioner if it's just the bearing going out. Take the pulley off and remove the bearing from the center of the pulley. You can pound it out with a hammer and the right size socket, or use a press if you have access to one. You can probably get a new bearing from NAPA for around 10 bucks or less.

 

[crazyoildude]

this kind of stuff you can get from auto zone or advance no need to go oem unless the price is rite. Same with brake rotors sometimes the aftermarket is better than oem.. Engine sensors i like oem.

 

[Trav]

Go to Advance Auto and look at the Dayco. It will have made in USA on the box but dont be fooled, look at the bearing itself in the pulley.
If it has Made in USA or Canada on the bearing itself grab that one, you might have to look at a few of them before you find one.
If it has China on it pass, the bearings suck.

The problem with this sort of part from Rock or online sellers is you cant look at it first, if you cant find one without a Chicom bearing buy OEM. Gates is far from the gold standard for this kind of part, they are average but OE is the gold standard.
Forget Dorman, they are cheap junk.

 

[jk_636]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Go to Advance Auto and look at the Dayco. It will have made in USA on the box but dont be fooled, look at the bearing itself in the pulley.
If it has Made in USA or Canada on the bearing itself grab that one, you might have to look at a few of them before you find one.
If it has China on it pass, the bearings suck.

The problem with this sort of part from Rock or online sellers is you cant look at it first, if you cant find one without a Chicom bearing buy OEM. Gates is far from the gold standard for this kind of part, they are average but OE is the gold standard.
Forget Dorman, they are cheap junk.


How can you badmouth Gates? They have been in business for years and stand behind their products 100%. I have yet to meet a mechanic that didn't exclusively use Gates belts. My Gates tensioner/idler assembly came with better mounting hardware and stronger components than the OEM [censored] that came with the vehicle. I dont know why some people get hung up on OEM parts. Those are just parts made by the lowest bidder under contract. Why not step up to a higher quality product AND save money doing it.

 

[DoubleWasp]

The bearing may not be the only issue.

I just replaced a screeching pulley in my RMW, only to find it still screeched. Real issue was the aluminum bearing mount had become warped from stress. It was an aftermarket unit. Went with a new Delco and never looked back.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: jk_636
Originally Posted By: Trav
Go to Advance Auto and look at the Dayco. It will have made in USA on the box but dont be fooled, look at the bearing itself in the pulley.
If it has Made in USA or Canada on the bearing itself grab that one, you might have to look at a few of them before you find one.
If it has China on it pass, the bearings suck.

The problem with this sort of part from Rock or online sellers is you cant look at it first, if you cant find one without a Chicom bearing buy OEM. Gates is far from the gold standard for this kind of part, they are average but OE is the gold standard.
Forget Dorman, they are cheap junk.


How can you badmouth Gates? They have been in business for years and stand behind their products 100%. I have yet to meet a mechanic that didn't exclusively use Gates belts. My Gates tensioner/idler assembly came with better mounting hardware and stronger components than the OEM [censored] that came with the vehicle. I dont know why some people get hung up on OEM parts. Those are just parts made by the lowest bidder under contract. Why not step up to a higher quality product AND save money doing it.


So saying they are not the gold standard for this type of part is badmouthing them?

Their hoses and belts are good which is their bread and butter business, i personally don't like their water pumps (too many made in China).
Of course OE is the gold standard, everything aftermarket is or should be built on those original specs. The aftermarket sometimes does make improvements if the original design if there is/was a known issue but the OE also improves their product in that case if its current for the most part.

I use aftermarket parts like most other mechanics but i also use a lot of OE, i get them at good prices and the quality is what came with the car. Some cars are OE only.
You are totally mistaken about Stepping up to a better quality for a lower price, in most cases this is just not true if we are talking about off the shelf aftermarket.

Take a Subaru timing set for one example. Gates is far from being the gold anything, its mediocre at best with its Chinese pump and mis marked belt locating points. OE or Aisin with their Mitsuboshi belts are the gold standard.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
this kind of stuff you can get from auto zone or advance no need to go oem unless the price is rite. Same with brake rotors sometimes the aftermarket is better than oem.. Engine sensors i like oem.


+1 on OEM engine sensors, etc. I bought a IAC from AAP with a one year warranty, Carquest by BWD was the brand. A POS would be kind words. In less than 2 years I replaced the part 4 times! The funny thing is I knew I should have paid up for OE but I installed that POS part instead.

Lesson learned again!

 

[Fitz98]

I went to AA and looked at Dayco. The bearing did not seem to have any identifiers on it saying where it was made.
There was however some markings on the seal with a part number 6203-2RS.
Is that a number that can be cross-referenced to a manufacturer?
I did a search for that part number, but it seems to be attached to a few different brand names.