Drive belt chewing up

[swexlin]

The new belt was same part #, same rib design but does not "chirp" on shutdown. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Same here. And I check it every few days. Paranoid? Yes. New spare belt in truck? Yes.

 

[robert4570]

S Richards, your belt coming apart concerns me as i am awaiting my 05' . Please keep us posted .

 

[swexlin]

S Richards, your belt coming apart concerns me as i am awaiting my 05' . Please keep us posted

I wouldn't worry. These seem to be "relatively" isolated incidents. When you pick up your truck, open the hood, and check the belt. See if it's tracking properly.

 

[SRichards]

Well so far I'm up to 2k miles and no more problems,I also check it every few days . Steve

 

[robert4570]

Thanks for the quick update .

Good Luck with your new truck

 

[Lawnman]

Add one more belt to the list.

I took my )04. 5 to the dealer today with 7500 miles and a shredding belt. Got the same story as everyone else seems to be getting, "bad belt". Hopefully this is not a serious issue.



A relative just finished a lemon lawn suit with DC over the same issue on a minivan. Belt broke 9 times in 54000 miles. They REPLACED the van after a lot of hassle and complaining.



I sure hope this is not a reaccuring thing they have going. After reading all these posts and knowing what they just went through it is kind of unnerving!

 

[Not_Agn]

I went through 2 belts. Dealer just put them on. The last one I took a harder look and found the tensioner pulley was bent. The dealer replaced that and the belt ( third one ) and all is good again. Lee.

 

[DCornelius]

This just happened to me this morning. Backed out of the garage and was getting ready to fold my mirrors out. Heard a sound like a leaf shredder for a few seconds. Looked under the engine and saw shredded belt pieces everywhere. Looks like only one or two ribs, but it's not evenly damaged around the whole circumference of the belt. I'm worried about driving the 20 miles to the dealership. (Drove my Durango to work. )



Anybody think I should call Roadside Assistance to have it flatbedded to the dealership?



Thanks,

David

 

[swexlin]

Anybody think I should call Roadside Assistance to have it flatbedded to the dealership?

Yes. It will continue to shred (mine did) and you will not make it 20 miles. David, how many miles on your truck?



FWIW, I had my truck in to my purchasing dealer for its 10,000 mile service Wednesday. This is not the dealer who replaced my belt. I explained to the service advisor about my incident, and the several others here who have had this happen. He said mine was the first he's heard of.



I still want to know why this is happening, and so far, it doesn't look like any dealers are taking the initiative to find out.

 

[DDiMarco]

I went through the serp belt self-destruct after 4k miles. I believe what happens is a defective belt will start to delaminate, a shred of belt will get between the belt and pulley(s) and cause a misalignment, jump one or more grooves and subsequent destruction of the whole belt. I convinced a dealer to credit me the belt as I changed it myself. Similarly, as with swexlin, my old (original) belt chirped like crazy on shutdown; the new belt chirps very rarely and I kinda miss it!

 

[swexlin]

I believe what happens is a defective belt will start to delaminate, a shred of belt will get between the belt and pulley(s) and cause a misalignment, jump one or more grooves and subsequent destruction of the whole belt.

That's a pretty good explanation I hadn't thought of. Certainly a realistic scenario, as I mentioned, there is NO room for error on that water pump pulley.

 

[DCornelius]

Yes. It will continue to shred (mine did) and you will not make it 20 miles. David, how many miles on your truck?

I have about 7,300 mi, which sounds like it's right in the fat part of the mileage curve for these failures.



Roadside Assistance sent a flatbed to my house at lunch and they strapped my baby on, and took it to my dealership. I hope the guy didn't go under any low bridges or tree branches on the way. It looked like it was 12 feet to the top of my cab, once the Ram was on the flatbed.



While I was waiting for the flatbed, I took a long look under the hood. There is belt dust and small pieces all over everything. My fan looks like it's got 30,000 miles on it, from the black marks all over it.



It's pretty convenient timing to get towed, though. The parts came in for the weatherstripping problem, and I was going to have to take it in anyway

 

[swexlin]

While I was waiting for the flatbed, I took a long look under the hood. There is belt dust and small pieces all over everything. My fan looks like it's got 30,000 miles on it, from the black marks all over it

That's the way mine was. Please keep us posted on what your dealer says.

 

[DCornelius]

Talked to dealer this afternoon. He said the belt tensioner was freezing up on them when they were diagnosing. Looks like I made the right call on the flatbbed.



Problem is, they had to order the part, so I'm looking at at least Tuesday before I'm driving my baby again. :{

 

[swexlin]

He said the belt tensioner was freezing up on them when they were diagnosing.

Thanks for the update, David. At least there seems to be a reason for for your shredding problem.

 

[DCornelius]

Got my truck back yesterday with the new tensioner installed. Actually, the diagnosis was the tensioner not applying enough tension on the belt. This allowed the belt to jump a groove or two, and shred itself.



Case closed.

 

[Babyfat]

1750 miles on my 04. 5 belt shredded, going to dealer today :{

 

[swexlin]

1750 miles on my 04. 5 belt shredded, going to dealer today

Good grief. Another one. This is not right.

Actually, the diagnosis was the tensioner not applying enough tension on the belt. This allowed the belt to jump a groove or two, and shred itself.

So is this some sort of design flaw with the tensioners? Makes me wonder how long it will be before mine does it again. How did your dealer determine there was not enought tension? Now I'll wonder every time I go over a big bump.

 

[NDanecker]

SWEXLIN..... Sorry to hear about your belt issue. Hope the dealer can solve the problem.

I had a similar problem on a project truck I did. I dropped a 383 TPI motor in an S-10 that uses a serp belt. It shreaded belts every 2k miles or so. Ended up being a dented/damanged grooves on one of the pulleys (forgot which one). Once I fixed that the shreaded belt issue went away.

So, I'm wonder if a pulley got damaged or dented (the grooves I mean) on one of the pulleys during assembly, or engine shipment. I believe the motors ship complete to Dodge from Cummins.

I agree..... never seen a belt go bad because of a defected belt. I'm guessing just another example of the dealers pushing blame onto the belt manfuacturer. So sad, IMO!

I've got about 20k on my new belt that came with the Jacobs exhaust brake kit. Its longer then stock because of the additional pump. No problems with stock belt from 0 - 10k miles. No problems with Jacobs belt from 10k - 30k miles. I did the exhaust brake install myself, and let me tall ya changing the belt on these things is a real pain in the arse!

ASIDE - I've still got the Ram with just about 30k miles. I love driving it, being able to throw my quad and crap in the back, etc. I'm learning to just deal with the issues with the drivetrain and engine miss at 2300rpms. I just get frustrated when the dealer tells me everything is 'operating as designed' when I know it isnt'. What can ya do except bend over and take it! $45k for a truck that isn't perfect really *&%*^&*# me. Still don't know if I'll sell it or not. Wife says it MUST go, but my heart says give it another try. I bought a x5 with the 8 cylinder for my daily driver (fast, fun little suv) so I dont' rack up too many miles on the Ram. Its sad when the solution is to not drive the RAM as much in fear it will break!

 

[swexlin]

So, I'm wonder if a pulley got damaged or dented (the grooves I mean) on one of the pulleys during assembly, or engine shipment. I believe the motors ship complete to Dodge from Cummins

NJ, good to hear from you again. Aside from this issue 6 months again, my truck has been virtually perfect. No vibes, runs smooth, great power.



This new belt has almost 5000 miles on it now, and, knock wood, so far so good. It's just amazing how so many people have chimed in that this is an issue in the 04. 5s and up. There is SOME sort of flaw somewhere, IMO. If a pulley were damaged, etc, why would it take many thousands of miles to show?



Scott