DIY Tensioner Pulley Bearing
11-23-2013, 11:54 AM
#1
DIY Tensioner Pulley Bearing
Ok let me start off with a few numbers:
But if you are a poor man who owns a sportscar (like myself) and you want to save $30 most auto parts store carry a pulley which they say will work on our cars. Will be listed as the idler pulley or tensioner pulley. Problem being from those who have tried this (such as myself) the aftermarket pulley hits the tensioner and will not work. It is around a 1/4" too wide. But the bearing in the aftermarket pulley will fit our OEM pulleys. Might be cheaper to buy the bearing but thats a hassle. So once you have acquired the part, 15-20 minutes, a 14 MM socket/wrench/ratchet, a hammer, and a socket that will fit the OUTER ring of the bearing (I used a 27 MM impact socket) Get to it:
Remove the belt by attaching the 14 MM whatever to the nut on the tensioner and turn counter clockwise to release the belt. Once belt is removed, remove the pulley (note its reverse threads, lefty tighty righty loosey!).
With the REPLACEMENT pulley on a solid surface (work bench, anvil.. your garage floor) get the socket that fits on the OUTER race of the bearing and give it a few love taps to remove the bearing from the housing. Put the bearing aside and discard or keep the pulley as a play thing for your children.
Make sure the bearing is the same size as the OEM bearing using a micrometer or a good set of eyes before removing the bearing from the OEM pulley. Because there is a high probability the OEM bering will be destroyed. Here is the aftermarket pulley with the bearing removed:
Once verified it is the correct pulley find another socket or small pipe that will fit the INNER race of the oem pulley bearing. You will notice the bearing can only come out one way which is why you must remove it using the inner race as a hit point. Or really any surface of the bearing will be fine, its just going to be trashed anyways. Here is the oem bearing removed:
Once removed, find the bearing from the aftermarket pulley and position it on the open side of the OEM pulley. Find the socket you removed the bearing earlier first (outer race). Now the key is to line up the bearing with the pulley and make it go into the housing EVENLY. Once it is even it will go in a few taps. Verify the bearing has made contact with the other end of the pulley. Should look like this (this is the open side of the pulley):
Reinstall everything in reverse order (use a few drops of loctite too) and reinstall belt. Chirpyness should no longer exist and now your kids have something to play with. Mission accomplished.
- OEM Belt tensioner - $105 from Majestic Honda
- OEM Pulley - $54 from Majestic Honda
- Vatozone Idle Pulley - $16.99
But if you are a poor man who owns a sportscar (like myself) and you want to save $30 most auto parts store carry a pulley which they say will work on our cars. Will be listed as the idler pulley or tensioner pulley. Problem being from those who have tried this (such as myself) the aftermarket pulley hits the tensioner and will not work. It is around a 1/4" too wide. But the bearing in the aftermarket pulley will fit our OEM pulleys. Might be cheaper to buy the bearing but thats a hassle. So once you have acquired the part, 15-20 minutes, a 14 MM socket/wrench/ratchet, a hammer, and a socket that will fit the OUTER ring of the bearing (I used a 27 MM impact socket) Get to it:
Remove the belt by attaching the 14 MM whatever to the nut on the tensioner and turn counter clockwise to release the belt. Once belt is removed, remove the pulley (note its reverse threads, lefty tighty righty loosey!).
With the REPLACEMENT pulley on a solid surface (work bench, anvil.. your garage floor) get the socket that fits on the OUTER race of the bearing and give it a few love taps to remove the bearing from the housing. Put the bearing aside and discard or keep the pulley as a play thing for your children.
Make sure the bearing is the same size as the OEM bearing using a micrometer or a good set of eyes before removing the bearing from the OEM pulley. Because there is a high probability the OEM bering will be destroyed. Here is the aftermarket pulley with the bearing removed:
Once verified it is the correct pulley find another socket or small pipe that will fit the INNER race of the oem pulley bearing. You will notice the bearing can only come out one way which is why you must remove it using the inner race as a hit point. Or really any surface of the bearing will be fine, its just going to be trashed anyways. Here is the oem bearing removed:
Once removed, find the bearing from the aftermarket pulley and position it on the open side of the OEM pulley. Find the socket you removed the bearing earlier first (outer race). Now the key is to line up the bearing with the pulley and make it go into the housing EVENLY. Once it is even it will go in a few taps. Verify the bearing has made contact with the other end of the pulley. Should look like this (this is the open side of the pulley):
Reinstall everything in reverse order (use a few drops of loctite too) and reinstall belt. Chirpyness should no longer exist and now your kids have something to play with. Mission accomplished.
11-23-2013, 01:11 PM
#2
Nice work. Does the open side of the bearing/pulley face go towards the engine or the radiator ?
11-23-2013, 01:44 PM
#3
Ok I was hoping somebody would chime in on that because I didnt remember.. I believe the open end goes toward engine. I 50/50ed it and did it like that, seems to work. Looking at it im not even sure it really matters. If you think about you would want the open end facing inwards so when you do the final tightening it would suck the bearing in some incase it wasnt seated properly
11-23-2013, 02:56 PM
#4
Okay thanks, the reason I asked is that I removed my two pullies a while back and never paid attention as to which side faced where when I took them off. Once they were off I started wondering how they were to be reinstalled, lol. Thanks for the reply.
02-07-2014, 01:00 PM
#5
Ok I was hoping somebody would chime in on that because I didnt remember.. I believe the open end goes toward engine. I 50/50ed it and did it like that, seems to work. Looking at it im not even sure it really matters. If you think about you would want the open end facing inwards so when you do the final tightening it would suck the bearing in some incase it wasnt seated properly
The flush side (where the bearing is flush with the pulley) goes towards the front of the car (towards radiator).
06-14-2014, 09:00 AM
#6
Registered User
Thank you very much, _brandon, for posting this DIY, and informing the s2ki community that the idler pulley bearing can easily be replaced.
However, there's no need to spend $17 at Autozone to obtain the replacement pulley, and then have to spend the extra time to knock the new bearing out of the pulley that isn't the right part.
While the bearing part numbers on the S2000's two idler pulleys (one ribbed, one smooth) are 6203LU (ribbed) and 6203LHX3 (smooth), you can replace both of them with 6203RS bearings, which are exactly the same dimensions (40mm OD x 17mm ID x 12mm wide)... here's a bearing company's webpage that indicates that the "6203RS" or 6203-RS" are replacement units for the 6203LU:
http://www.okbbearing.com/zc.php?xhurl=NTN-6203LU
Lucky for us, the 6203RS bearing is commonly available on eBay for under 3 bucks shipped.
$2.75 shipped for one (inexpensive Chinese-made equivalent, I'm sure): http://www.ebay.com/itm/6203-2RS-C3-.../121338288947?
I went with a supposedly slightly better-quality ("ABEC 3 & C/3 rated", whatever that means) bearing from "usabearingsbelts" for $3.49 a piece... I ordered three, replaced the bearings in both of my OEM pulleys, and have one as a spare:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/6203-2RS-620.../371079795486?
You can also opt for a "high-dollar" 6203 bearing that assumedly isn't made in China: $6.99 shipped for a single SKF-brand bearing, which is a Swedish company (that invented the self-aligning bearing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SKF) and is a name I remember from my long-ago skateboarding days: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Qty-1-SKF-62...-/141258550152
Anyway, here are my pics from swapping the bearings today... both of my OEM pulley bearings were very loose (tons of side to side play), they both sounded very metallic and a bit gritty inside, and there was evidence of all the grease inside one of them having spun out.
I just punched the OEM bearings out with an appropriately sized socket, put a tiny bit of grease on the outer sides of the new bearing, and carefully and gradually tapped them back into the pulleys with a standard framing hammer (I used the old bearing on top of the new bearing as a striking surface for the hammer):
Old 6203LU with new 6203RS (blue seal):
New eBay bearings installed:
Both of the OEM bearings, so you can see the original NTN bearings' ID numbers:
However, there's no need to spend $17 at Autozone to obtain the replacement pulley, and then have to spend the extra time to knock the new bearing out of the pulley that isn't the right part.
While the bearing part numbers on the S2000's two idler pulleys (one ribbed, one smooth) are 6203LU (ribbed) and 6203LHX3 (smooth), you can replace both of them with 6203RS bearings, which are exactly the same dimensions (40mm OD x 17mm ID x 12mm wide)... here's a bearing company's webpage that indicates that the "6203RS" or 6203-RS" are replacement units for the 6203LU:
http://www.okbbearing.com/zc.php?xhurl=NTN-6203LU
Lucky for us, the 6203RS bearing is commonly available on eBay for under 3 bucks shipped.
$2.75 shipped for one (inexpensive Chinese-made equivalent, I'm sure): http://www.ebay.com/itm/6203-2RS-C3-.../121338288947?
I went with a supposedly slightly better-quality ("ABEC 3 & C/3 rated", whatever that means) bearing from "usabearingsbelts" for $3.49 a piece... I ordered three, replaced the bearings in both of my OEM pulleys, and have one as a spare:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/6203-2RS-620.../371079795486?
You can also opt for a "high-dollar" 6203 bearing that assumedly isn't made in China: $6.99 shipped for a single SKF-brand bearing, which is a Swedish company (that invented the self-aligning bearing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SKF) and is a name I remember from my long-ago skateboarding days: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Qty-1-SKF-62...-/141258550152
Anyway, here are my pics from swapping the bearings today... both of my OEM pulley bearings were very loose (tons of side to side play), they both sounded very metallic and a bit gritty inside, and there was evidence of all the grease inside one of them having spun out.
I just punched the OEM bearings out with an appropriately sized socket, put a tiny bit of grease on the outer sides of the new bearing, and carefully and gradually tapped them back into the pulleys with a standard framing hammer (I used the old bearing on top of the new bearing as a striking surface for the hammer):
Old 6203LU with new 6203RS (blue seal):
New eBay bearings installed:
Both of the OEM bearings, so you can see the original NTN bearings' ID numbers:
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flanders (03-05-2018)
06-15-2014, 05:39 AM
#7
Nice!! Most likely WAY better than vautozones bearings. Only reason I made this was because I accidentally stumbled while testing the cheap pulleys from autozone (I dont care, its an idler pulley) and noticing that they didnt fit (go figure) but the bearings were the same 
. Anyways the guy above me way of fixing the problem is a MUCH better alternative, but use my method if you want it now! Since they have a barrel of those pulleys at autozone.
. Anyways the guy above me way of fixing the problem is a MUCH better alternative, but use my method if you want it now! Since they have a barrel of those pulleys at autozone.
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06-15-2014, 12:10 PM
#8
Registered User
Well, I wouldn't count on that, but probably similar/equal quality, unless you spend "big money" (7 bucks!) on the SKF brand bearing. That I would hope is equal to an OEM-Honda quality NTN bearing.
Yes, good point! Sometimes it is PRICELESS to be able to fix an unexpected problem right away, without waiting 2–4 days for parts to show up in the mail... not only for people who use their S2000s as daily drivers, but also for those of us who race, and are often caught out without the part they need at a race event—but there's always a Vato Zone, Advance Auto, or O'Reilly's nearby...
That being said, I drove my S2000 another 70–80 around-town miles AFTER I started hearing the tell-tale noises of a dying idler or tensioner pulley... it's like when the low-fuel warning light first kicks on; you need to take care of the situation soon, but you do have a little time.
That being said, I drove my S2000 another 70–80 around-town miles AFTER I started hearing the tell-tale noises of a dying idler or tensioner pulley... it's like when the low-fuel warning light first kicks on; you need to take care of the situation soon, but you do have a little time.
07-23-2014, 07:43 PM
#10
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Awesome info, I was just looking at replacing my bear on the tensioner pulley and after a string of things replaced on my S2K's summer maintenance I'm thrilled to be replacing two bearings for $7!
Cheers,
Greg
Cheers,
Greg