Crank Pulley and Power Steering Pulley.. Weird cracks

Guy

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2005 SRT-10, 11K Miles

I figured regardless of the mileage and the fact that it doesn't get driven much, I should change the accessories belt, and besides I was curious to see if my car suffered from a loose crank bolt too.. On a visit to the US, dropped by a Dodge dealer and ordered a bunch of stock parts to service the car. By the time I got home and checked everything, I saw that he had sold me a crank pulley too.. Figured it was an accident and that it wasn't worth the trouble of returning it. I had all the other usual suspects; the belt, a tensioner and the idler pulley.

Today, I took the airbox off and noticed that the crank pulley looked like it had a marker, which was odd.. on close inspection it turned out to be a monster crack. Removed the pulley and took the photo below (next to it is the new pulley, which incidentally looks a bit "beefier" on the edges..

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I thought "bless the parts guy" at least I had the correct part to fix this weird problem, and let's go on and finish.. when I also discovered the exact same crack on the power steering pulley..

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Anyone else seen this? I have googled the heck out of it, and found nothing on the Gen-3s... Is it worth swapping out all the other pulleys and going for some aftermarket underdrive pulley kit? I don't really trust any of the other pulleys on the car, even though they look fine.. The belt looked brand new when I took it off too! The crank bolt is very tight, and the six bolts holding the crank pulley were tight, but came off relatively easily... The only issue was that when the car was cold, the power steering would jump within the first 60 seconds or so of the car heating up, like as if the belt was slipping.. now I know why..

Ideas on how to fix this; go stock or aftermarket?

Thanks!
 

xr4racer

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That is just the way they are made, it looks as if they start with belt surface as a straight piece of metal and loop it around to make a circle, you are seeing the beginning and the end. Please correct me if I am wrong.

matt
 
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Guy

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That is just the way they are made, it looks as if they start with belt surface as a straight piece of metal and loop it around to make a circle, you are seeing the beginning and the end. Please correct me if I am wrong.

matt

Hi Matt, the brand new crank pulley that I thought I had accidentally bought had no cracks/lines whatsoever on it..
 

AZTVR

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Removed the pulley and took the photo below (next to it is the new pulley, which incidentally looks a bit "beefier" on the edges..

With the rust forming at the location, I'd be worried also. Perhaps there is a service bulletin and that's why the parts guy sold you the pulley or maybe he just thought you said that yours was loose. Anyway, I'd send an email to Chuck Tator to see if he has seen any failures.

Perhaps the replacement is built with a different or better process on purpose.
 
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Guy

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Perhaps the replacement is built with a different or better process on purpose.

Its a bit difficult to see in my first photo, but the replacement part has curvier, thicker edges and feels a bit more "beefy"..
 

ViperGeorge

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Had the same concern on my 06 power steering pulley. Ordered a new one (and it was expensive). The new one had an engineering number change and DID NOT have the "crack". They apparently changed the manufacturing process at some point to eliminate the gap. It is normal though to have it on assembly line parts.
 
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Guy

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Thanks for the updates guys.. weird as heck this "crack".. Anyone used a complete aftermarket pulley kit? Does one even exist?
 

Allan

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Almost 47,000 miles on my factory installed cracked pulleys. Alot of that in the upper end of the tach. I'm not gonna worry about it. I am concerned about tire wear though. :drive:
 
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