The story started at 6:30 this morning on my way to the golf course, about a 20 mile drive on the turnpike from my house.
Just before I was getting on the xway I was coming up on a light. It was green. Some idiot turns right on red and I moved over a lane. Except the dumb az makes a wide turn into the center lane. That pissed me off a bit more then just the initial shake you head and go onward and ignor the stupidity of the other driver. Sooooooo, I goosed the car, abruptly turned the car and went around him to the left and got on the xway. This is usually my 100 mph plus trek for 15-17 miles
About 7 or 8 miles I felt a chug in the car. A minute later I see the battery light come on. I turned all the electrical components off.....radio, ac, radar dectector and the fan. A couple minutes later I see the the temperature is spiked. I am 5 miles from golf course................... I turn the heat on full blast to try and keep the temp down.
I got off the xway and made it to the course. Tough making a turn with no power steering.
I opened the hood and the belt was off. WTF. The engine was a bit on the hot side to say the least.
And My first question was?
Do I golf now? Mess with SRT now or later or vice versa........... I went golfing. Priorties were straight.
I called AMX Jim,who live a couple miles away and my drag racing compadre, at 8:30am to see if he would be available at noon to help me put the belt on. I apologized for waking him up on Sunday morning so early. But, I was on the 4th hole by then, but thinking about my injured disabled baby.
I finished the round........shot 78.
Jim called me and he met me at the course at 12:30. We began the diagnosis and putting the belt back on. Hmmmmm, a problem! One of the pulley's is missing. And you ask! Which pulley? One of the 3 that was replaced with the 181 pulley group and it wasn't the water pump pulley or the ...crank pulley.... It is the one below the supercharger. Where did it go ................ Well, as luck would have it, there it was laying on the pan below the engine and the bolt was with it as though someone had just left it there after taking it off the engine. Luckily the belt was intact.
Now what............... the bolt had loosened itself out............. Why? The bearing had siezed.........As luck would have it I called my daughter to look for the bearing that LET had sent me several months ago. There it was 20 miles away. Ashley brought it up to Jim and I.
In the meantime Jim popped out he old bearing using a small socket he had brought with a few other tools. We gently got the bolt back in as the external treads were a wee bit ragged to test the treads.
It took Ashley about 40 minutes to get there with a hammer and a bigger socket to use as a press. We used the old bearing to set on the new one as not to damage the new one as we hammered it in place with a socket and hammer on the cement. Since we were in the parking lot of the golf course a press machine wasn't available. This was by the seat of your pants mechanics. The old fashion way........
We put the belt back on. We started the car and .... and......
The moral of the story:
Friends are hard to come by and not many people would come to your rescue when you have a problem unless you are paying them a ton of money.
I could not have done this with the help of Jim Barnes, Mr AMX and a fellow SRT owner.
THANK YOU SIR.
How lucky can you get.
1. The belt was fine.
2.The pulley was in the floor pan
3. The bolt was there still in the pulley
4. The treads were not stripped
5. I had the bearing at the house
6. Ashley was able to find the bearing and bring it to me
7. Jim was available
8. Jim was available
9 No other damage............................. Life is good
10. That the engine didn't blow up