| lvporschepilot |
08-20-2019 11:57 AM |
Just grab a couple rebuild kits ($30 ea) and collars then. I actually think the original tensioners are very good, but tricky to rebuild and set up. There are some good threads out there showing how to do it, but I think they're missing a couple important points when bleeding the piston.
I just did this recently so it's fresh on my mind. Here's how I recently did this: hold the tensioner vertically in a vice. The area where the piston and spring sits, fill that area about half way or so, insert piston/spring with check ball assembly etc, push the piston in until it stops (this should happen quick as the sprung check ball is closing the hole in the piston), make sure the top of the piston is just below where there ring clip installs, hold the depressed piston with some sort of clamping tool, install the inner ring clip (takes patience and a couple screwdrivers of varying size), once clip is in (tensioner still in vice) add a bit more oil and install the outside bleed screw with copper washer and close, fashion a wire to snake its way through one of the 2 holes on top of the piston so it can depress the check ball (can be tricky, but one it's open that wire will stay put thus keeping the ball open until you yank it out), once that check ball is depressed/open (you will know, as that piston won't go down at all) you can move the piston down to bleed air out, as you bleed air you will see air bubbles escaping the hole where the wire is to the oil you earlier squirted on top, once no more bubbles are seen, yank the wire out and try and push that piston down, it should be *very* solid. Tighten external bleed screw. Now add a bit more oil (don't totally fill) and assemble the rest of the guts/spring/retainer/clip. Now go to your motor and get as best an idea as you are able regarding just how long the tensioner can be to get it back in. Put the tensioner in a vice so the vice depresses the piston now, external bleeder side up, open the bleeder a bit, partially close the tensioner *slowly* to the measured amount, make sure to NOT depress the piston too much (only as much is necessary) or it will fail i.e. oil/air will escape past the seal due to too much pressure than the seals can handle internally and you'll have to partially disassemble and bleed again, slide off the vice and onto a tool or your choosing to hold it in that position, then slide into place. That tensioner should be rock solid, zero movement by touch. Install collars.
The job is a pain if you've never done it before. I 100% understand why many prefer to just bite the bullet and go to oil fed tensioners, the old ones can work fine but they can be very challenging to set up. It is a longer job to rebuild the old tensioners then it is to swap them with oil-fed units.
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