Gates Serpentine belt and Tensioner assembly

[seafish]

Prices for oem parts has gotten SO high that I am wondering if the Gates serpentine belt/tensioner kit is up to par...

Obviously I would still buy them from Genos, but I am curious if anyone here running them have updated comments on quality and longevity of these parts??

 

[BigPapa]

We run the green Gates HD belts on our buses. They hold up well and don’t give any problems. We also use many Gates tensioners on a lot of our support vehicles with no issues. We use the Cummins tensioners on the buses and we replace a LOT of them. I wouldn’t favor a Cummins tensioner over a Gates at all.

 

[seafish]

We run the green Gates HD belts on our buses. They hold up well and don’t give any problems. We also use many Gates tensioners on a lot of our support vehicles with no issues. We use the Cummins tensioners on the buses and we replace a LOT of them. I wouldn’t favor a Cummins tensioner over a Gates at all.

what kind of mileage are you getting out of them?

 

[EDankievitch]

Only issue I had with the Gates tensioner was I had to un bolt it to change the belt on my 05 Dodge. There wasn’t enough clearance to allow the belt to pass through when it was fully installed. It lasted longer than the original tensioner. And far longer than the water pumps did on that truck.

 

[BigPapa]

what kind of mileage are you getting out of them?

Belts or tensioners? They're on school buses, so, it's more a matter of hours than miles.

 

[Topzide]

If they're holding up to the time on buses, I think you'd get good service on our trucks. I've used the Gates HD belt on my truck and have a Gates tensioner ready for the next go round. Water pump, not so much and would use Cummins along with the thermostat. So items hold up well on the aftermarket items, then sometimes the price is so close, why use them! Main thing is to so on top of the maintenance and don't let things build up before addressing.

 

[RussellSullivan]

If they're holding up to the time on buses, I think you'd get good service on our trucks. I've used the Gates HD belt on my truck and have a Gates tensioner ready for the next go round. Water pump, not so much and would use Cummins along with the thermostat. So items hold up well on the aftermarket items, then sometimes the price is so close, why use them! Main thing is to so on top of the maintenance and don't let things build up before addressing.

Both Gates and Cummins tensioners have served well in my trucks. The belts too. I have never had failures but I do change them at approximately 90K intervals.

 

[seafish]

Thanks guys, looks like it'll be the Gates Belt/Tensioner/Idler kit for my truck.

 

[Topzide]

@seafish, Here's what RA has to offer; https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinf...6B2vzQUUfYEQRmnp4Aa5LowuMPaYRRXbhV03d5IEs3nWz

 

[GrantP]

Thanks guys, looks like it'll be the Gates Belt/Tensioner/Idler kit for my truck.

I have about 110k on my gates belt/tensioner combo if that makes you feel any better. No issues.

 

[CharlesinGA]

I installed a Gates Fleet Runner belt (green one) on mine and a Litens tensioner, as Litens was one of the early producers, if not the inventor of the belt tensioners we use today. I removed a Dayco tensioner with a plastic pulley. The Litens has a metal pulley. I bought the tensioner at Advance and they had it in stock. O'Reilly's sells all things Gates, and the local store told me that the only Gates Fleet Runner belt in their entire system was at a store about 50 miles away, so I went and picked it up. At that time they were in national stock shortage.

I installed a Gates water pump (made in, you guessed it, China) but it appeared to be of very good quality. I did all of this, plus new bearings and brushes in the alternator (had noisy bearings) while I was replacing the radiator.

Charles