Hey folks. My 4.6 timing cover is so brittle I cant reinstall idler pulley. Can't do timing cover replacement until April. Has any1 tried deleting this Idler pulley right above the belt tensioner. Passenger side of engine? With a tad shorter belt, and maybe grinding away a wee bit of the cast housing on tensioner where belt may rub, it looks like it will work. Mind you the half inch max belt deflection from said idler pulley will be gone but with shorter belt, will it lol? If any1 has tried this what smaller belt did you use or how'd your attempts at idler delete go? Thanks a ton.
@LF150 I see this is an old post... sorry no one responded. I am hoping you are good now and its all fixed... If not Ill share my experience with you. So what year is this truck? I was given (there is not free truck...) a 2004 F150 with a 4.6. It was missing the idler pully I think you are talking about... the embossment where the pully was, was broken off.... There was a hole in the timing chain cover.... here is a thread link for this truck, this issue and several others that I fixed in the process. https://www.fordfullsize.com/thread...t-bed-new-to-me-has-issues.12856/#post-417737 I have done a great deal more to it since this fix. It is a good sound truck and fits my needs. If you go to that link, there is a pic of the diagram for the belt and the pulleys... I believe you are talking about #2 pully. I may have just ran the truck like that if there had not been a hole in the cover.... I also do not know if the belt was any different than stock, I think it was not.... So If ya dont have a hole, let it eat! Or get a belt just a little bit smaller... FYI: on my truck, it would only take a timing chain cover from that year truck and motor. Other covers will fit (ask me how I know) but the power steering pump will not bolt up. Also if you are going to the trouble of replacing the timing chain cover, you may as well do at least the tensioners and guides in there... probably the chain and gears as well. My repair is documented at a different forum thread here: https://www.f150online.com/forums/2004-2008-f-150/526850-just-got-truck-found-right-off-bat.html Good luck.
