89-W-Body-Regal Posted June 23, 2018 Report Share Posted June 23, 2018 My belt tensioner was a cheap aftermarket brand by gates. They are known for making good products but the one I got wasn’t that great. I started tighten back the belt tensioner to tighten my belt. The belt didn’t seem that tight enough because you could still slide the belt off the tensioner. It wasn’t tight enough. When I started the car it started making noises near the tensioner and harmonic balancer. The balancer is good. Didn’t see any movement or wobbling off. I than tried to adjust the tensioner and stripped the bolt over tighten it. The tensioner wouldn’t even tighten back on anymore. Just kept falling off. I know I can’t drive the car without one. I bought a better one and new bolt. Could that fix my issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfewtrail Posted June 23, 2018 Report Share Posted June 23, 2018 If you stripped the threads where the tensioner mounts to the engine, then you're going to have to drill out that hole and place an insert in it to fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich_e777 Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 They have the inserts at AutoZone and other part stores and the name is just out of reach of my recollection. They are made just for this particular type of SNAFU which is probably due to cross threading, IIRC its a bit easy to cross thread that particular bolt so dont feel bad, sh!t happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imp558 Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 Helicoil 89-W-Body-Regal and rich_e777 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89-W-Body-Regal Posted June 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 Just bought it. This should be fun smh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galaxie500XL Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 It’s not bad at all. The only thing to be careful of is to drill straight, and don’t let the drill wander while you’re drilling, and be sure to use lubricant when you tap the hole.. 89-W-Body-Regal 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89-W-Body-Regal Posted June 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 Stupid question, but just out of curiousity, what would happen if you just try to put a new bolt in without drilling it? Would it not go in tight? I’ve done it before and it went in with no issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psych0matt Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 Stupid question, but just out of curiousity, what would happen if you just try to put a new bolt in without drilling it? Would it not go in tight? I’ve done it before and it went in with no issues. if you just stripped the bolt then it'd be fine as long as there's no shavings left in the hole. If you stripped the threads in the hole then a new one wouldn't tighten 89-W-Body-Regal 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89-W-Body-Regal Posted June 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 No I just stripped the bolt and wouldn’t turn anymore. It just kept loosening itself when I would tighten it any further. I didn’t snap off the thread in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galaxie500XL Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 Isn’t that a left hand thread? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
55trucker Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 if you just stripped the bolt then it'd be fine as long as there's no shavings left in the hole. If you stripped the threads in the hole then a new one wouldn't tighten The bolt is steel, the front cover is aluminum, it's a given which is going to go first. Psych0matt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89-W-Body-Regal Posted June 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 The bolt is steel, the front cover is aluminum, it's a given which is going to go first. So what are you saying? A new bolt wouldn’t tighten it? I didn’t even break off the bolt in the cover. I just over tighten it and the bolt kept being loose. I figured I kept tighten the bolt too much and I stripped it. I thought a new bolt would tighten it down with no issues because it has more of a thread on the bolt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psych0matt Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 So what are you saying? A new bolt wouldn’t tighten it? I didn’t even break off the bolt in the cover. I just over tighten it and the bolt kept being loose. I figured I kept tighten the bolt too much and I stripped it. I thought a new bolt would tighten it down with no issues because it has more of a thread on the bolt. a new bolt wouldn't do anything if you stripped the threads of the hole, which is most likely what happened. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psych0matt Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 Isn’t that a left hand thread? you can use your right hand if youd like Galaxie500XL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imp558 Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 If there's some threads past the stripped part he might get lucky. If it works I'd at least put loctite on it. 89-W-Body-Regal 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89-W-Body-Regal Posted June 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 I checked there is no shavings in the hole and the threads are still seeable. I am going to hope for the best and hope it works. I will use loctite on it like Imp558 said. The loctite might help it from getting loose and I might get lucky if the new bolt does tight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
55trucker Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 So what are you saying? A new bolt wouldn’t tighten it? I didn’t even break off the bolt in the cover. I just over tighten it and the bolt kept being loose. I figured I kept tighten the bolt too much and I stripped it. I thought a new bolt would tighten it down with no issues because it has more of a thread on the bolt. Aluminum is much softer than a harden steel bolt. If one over tightens such a bolt in this situation the aluminum will go first. The bolt threads will appear shiny and possibly slightly rolled over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89-W-Body-Regal Posted June 26, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 Well you guys are right. I did strip the threads. The thread in the aluminum cover where the belt tensioner screws onto is stripped. There isn’t any shavings and there isn’t a need for drilling because the hole is deep enough where I don’t have any shavings in it. I bought a thread kit so I need install a new thread in the hole so the bolt won’t contiune to keep spinning and will tight preventing the tensioner falling off. I seen it done before in school where someone stripped a brake caliper bolt and they need to install a new thread. He didn’t even have to drill the hole. He just installed a new thread and it was good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imp558 Posted June 26, 2018 Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 You still want to make sure the drill bit in the kit fits in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
55trucker Posted June 27, 2018 Report Share Posted June 27, 2018 When you do this repair make sure you get it right the first time...... the hole in the front cover is deep enough that you may need to install two inserts depending on the length of the single insert in the kit https://www.thorintl.com/Drill-Sizes-HeliCoils-Metric.shtml 89-W-Body-Regal 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89-W-Body-Regal Posted June 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2018 Are some of the inserts in the kit the same size? I bought the kit that is the size of the bolt that is going to screw into the cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imp558 Posted June 30, 2018 Report Share Posted June 30, 2018 Different thread pitches? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabsOlds Posted July 17, 2018 Report Share Posted July 17, 2018 So, did you get this done? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89-W-Body-Regal Posted July 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2018 So, did you get this done? I tried but the fitting I put in there didn’t tighten the new bolt properly. So I took it to the shop to let them do it. Psych0matt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabsOlds Posted July 18, 2018 Report Share Posted July 18, 2018 Ok. Good to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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