Pineapple Racing Idler pulley Failure
 

My Pineapple Racing idler pulley failed after 4,000 miles, looks like they used a cheap set of bearings that where rated for half the rpm than what is needed with a 8,000rpm redline. The bearings completely locked up and left me stranded today, tried to reach them multiple times through out the day with no answer on there end.

Attachment 623708

how tight was the belt?

Exactly. We have installed over 100 of these kits without issue and sold hundreds more.

Pineapple will replace it as there is a lifetime warranty on the idler kit.

Sometimes bad parts make it through QC. If your first thought is belt tightness on what appears to be a double bearing idler... well... I'm very skeptical of that conclusion (why didn't the wp or alt go then?). My first thought was insufficient lube from the factory; something happening more and more as costs/corners are cut.

I doubt this thread would have been posted if someone would have picked up the phone.

Yep, belt tension was fine and had .4" of defection on a new belt which should be lower than stock. On the first test drive, (15 to 20 full boost 8,000 rpm pulls) I noticed grease all over my turbo and figured it was just excess get pushed out. When I pulled these off after failure they had zero grease in them. In the time that it failed it had done around 3,000 red line pulls and a good number of them where sustained at rev limit during drifting and autocross. Booth bearings have failed, this is not a bearing problem it is a seal problem.

Yep

It's the high rpm

Drive these idlers hard and they fall apart. Fortunately it didn't happen while you were at the track etc.....

If I was you I'd get your new one from Pineapple and promptly sell it to someone who likes adding things to their car for cough cough reliability reasons LOL

Don't use them and don't recommend them. There is plenty of tension with a stock under drive. I've been tracking my car hard for 10 years with stock wp, stock underdrive and greddy style water pump/alt pulley's. When you start to hear a squeal that goes away quickly after start up there is a good chance you a need a new belt or water pump pulley is worn so replace one or both and keep on revving.

Bottomline: An aftermarket water pump or water pump idler pulley's are not parts anyone needs :egrin:

Mine failed early as well. I pushed out the old bearing and replaced them with new high quality ones (there are (2) bearings) and haven't had a problem since.

Do you have the high quality bearing part numbers?

If you press them out there may be a number on them to cross reference with, otherwise just post up the dimensions and they can be matched that way too

I am trying to avoid doing that:icon_tup:

If somebody has the info, I would rather order, and replace, rather than pull, get the info, order, pull again and replace.

My setup is working fine, I guess I will wait and see if it fails at some point.

You shouldn't have to re-build a brand new part. Contact Pineapple and see if they can make it right in the first place.

Anyone else have issues similar to this?

Debating if I should switch back to the old school greddy pulleys as a "reliability mod". Last thing I need is another reason to possibly sit next to a tow truck driver for 2 hours after a long track day.

You know FFE just released their own version of this, and the bearing is an OEM bearing IIRC. Doubt you would have any concerns of quality with that.

I've been running mine for over a year, without any issues. My engine sees redline often, but I am not at near redline for long periods of time.

In Pineapples defense, I have had mine since it was released without issue. So over 4 years? I would like to deduce whether or not the bearing will fail eventually or not for those tracking their cars often.

I've got the pulley... and Have Swapped the bearing twice so far. And Guess what?....I started the car yesterday with the "New" advised to use bearing and heard that Defening horrifyingly loud squeeling. I've heard people using it without issue.. And I'd like to think i pay particular attention to how much tension is on my belts and make sure that it's never too much... but I threw in the towel and already have a Full Function Engineering Pulley ON the way. It uses the OE idler pump bearing with a custom machined pulley around it so that your really getting a solid bearing. Kit looks freakin excellent! pics to come!

I been running it for more than 3 years few moth ago bearing started to make a bit of noise.Just pull it out and press the bearing out and put in new one easy to do.Ball bearing # is 6302 you need 2 of them.

Mine just started making noise today after autocrossing :[

Pinapple Racing Idler pulley Failure
 

Had mine on for about a little over a month and did an autox.. seems ok so far. . I'm just happy they made a big turbo version or else it wouldn't fit, like others who make theirs ( not bagging just saying other brands wouldn't of fit otherwise.)

I spoke to Rob this weekend about the bearing issue. When the pulley kits were designed he worked with the bearing manufacture to spec the size and rating of the bearings per the application engineers recommendations. While the majority of users don't seem to have an issue, he is working with the bearing manufacture to see if there is a slightly different bearing that may be better suited to the increased loads that possible over tightening of the belts can cause. As a reminder, there are new install instructions available and he is happy to warranty any kits- just shoot him an email sales@pineappleracing.com.

On a side note- I removed his first prototype pulley kit from a customers car a few weeks ago- over 8 years with no issues. He traded it out for a new kit, just so he could hold on to the original.

What you talked to rob? Man for the past couple years I thought he was dead. I feel like such a ass I need to quit killing people off.

I stop by his shop a few times every month. He just bought my old Bridgeport Mill. He's definitely still kicking, but he's only taking on work that he wants to do at this point.

He's definitely still around. I live a mile from his shop and stop in regularly. He's essentially a one man shop. This includes rebuilds, machining, and customer service, so it may be hard to get a hold of him by phone. Email is the best bet if you're not in the area.

That's good to hear .Why must I keep killing people?

Uh, sure.