Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
So last night I fire the truck up to drive 98-year old gramps back to his apartment in Nashville (84 miles). It was dark and very cold, but the noise I heard from under the hood was more than a squeaking belt. I suspected it was the idler pulley. So, not wanting to kill him by freezing him to death from breaking down, I threw some blankets in the truck in case we got stranded.
We made it fine, but by the time we got there, the sound had gotten worse. Raising the hood I saw that it was clearly the idler pulley (top)--you could see it spin true and then wobble on the bearings. So instead of coming back to the cabin, I spent the night in Nashville, not wanting to risk it again late on a holiday.
The next morning (today) I set out on the 5 mile drive to the dealer, stopping for breakfast 2 miles from the house. When I stopped, I smelled a burning serpentine belt--a sure sign the bearing had seized. When I went to start it after breakfast, the belt snapped.
A few interesting things from the experience:
1) The residual pressure in the braking system and power steering system fools you into believing the thing is drivable. But about 20 feet away I lost nearly all brakes and with all my strength I couldn't turn the wheel more than 20 degrees or so at 10 mph. Darn, that thing is heavy.
2) Speaking of heavy, I warned the AAA flatbed tow truck driver that it was very heavy and to be careful putting it on the truck or he's be in for a surprise. He scoffed a little and then freaked out when the entire front of the truck jumped in the air 2 ft until the rear of the ramp hit the pavement again.
It was one of this little cab-over snub-nosed diesels.
3) The alternator late never came on, even after running the engine sans-belt for about 10 minutes. That struck me as odd. I asked the dealer about that, and apparently the light isn't keyed to alternator output but to battery voltage. When it droves below 10. ?, it comes on, and since it has those two big batteries, I guess it takes awhile. That rings "not true" to me, and I wonder if any of you can confirm it.
The dealer had the belt but didn't have the idler pulley. But he offered to take one off a core engine being sent back to the factory. It was used, but he didn't charge me for the part or labor, which I thought was pretty nice. The engine was there because one of you guys apparently put a chip in it and they voided the warranty. So thanks.
We made it fine, but by the time we got there, the sound had gotten worse. Raising the hood I saw that it was clearly the idler pulley (top)--you could see it spin true and then wobble on the bearings. So instead of coming back to the cabin, I spent the night in Nashville, not wanting to risk it again late on a holiday.
The next morning (today) I set out on the 5 mile drive to the dealer, stopping for breakfast 2 miles from the house. When I stopped, I smelled a burning serpentine belt--a sure sign the bearing had seized. When I went to start it after breakfast, the belt snapped.
A few interesting things from the experience:
1) The residual pressure in the braking system and power steering system fools you into believing the thing is drivable. But about 20 feet away I lost nearly all brakes and with all my strength I couldn't turn the wheel more than 20 degrees or so at 10 mph. Darn, that thing is heavy.
2) Speaking of heavy, I warned the AAA flatbed tow truck driver that it was very heavy and to be careful putting it on the truck or he's be in for a surprise. He scoffed a little and then freaked out when the entire front of the truck jumped in the air 2 ft until the rear of the ramp hit the pavement again.
It was one of this little cab-over snub-nosed diesels. 3) The alternator late never came on, even after running the engine sans-belt for about 10 minutes. That struck me as odd. I asked the dealer about that, and apparently the light isn't keyed to alternator output but to battery voltage. When it droves below 10. ?, it comes on, and since it has those two big batteries, I guess it takes awhile. That rings "not true" to me, and I wonder if any of you can confirm it.
The dealer had the belt but didn't have the idler pulley. But he offered to take one off a core engine being sent back to the factory. It was used, but he didn't charge me for the part or labor, which I thought was pretty nice. The engine was there because one of you guys apparently put a chip in it and they voided the warranty. So thanks.
