The 178 ASP pulley had some issues also with the rubber dampener coming loose and vibrating the motor causing the front crank seals to leak. The LET178/181/185 pulleys were made better then ASP or Renntech which basically welded a larger outer ring on a factory stock one. The problem was in the water pump pulley, which was recalled. It sucks that there was a problem but only walding sustained damage that I remember.

 

Whats LET up to these days? They haven't really been active lately around here. They working on anything new? They've been awfully quiet the last couple of months.

 

I know Jerry is still duing the tuning end, I think Erick may have retired from the business.

 

Not sure if LET rushed these to market or what - I know that I received my pulley's prior to LET switching manufacturers and having all those delivery and other issues.

I feel for you guys having these issues and I hope the WP failures doesn't damage your engines in anyway. I think LET needs to look hard at the design of all the WP pulleys.

I've had my 185 pulley setup installed for close to 10K miles, many dyno and canyon runs with no issues what-so-ever; but I do inspect them now all the time.

 

Wow, wonder if that means LET is no more. That would definitely suck.

 

Erick is dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane Ike in Houston and from the looks of the link below,
Jerry is dealing with some flooding issues in Chicago from all the rain. The post below is on the MBworld forum!

LET Chicago Flood Pictures
Thought you guys might like to see...

Lots of damage and months worth of clean up.

http://www.letmotorsports.com/flood/

 

Time will tell, BUT, When times are tough the tough get going!

 

Dealer replaced my water pump when the pulley went south.Even though the temp went off the scale, I have had no other issues. Also, last week the NW CAI was put on the SRT and I like it. If I have the time I will have her dyno'd this week.

 

How long ago was that? When they first came out over 3 years ago?

You are right on with making my point, every product has to be properly tested in the real world before it's released. Maybe ASP rushed their pulley to market way back then, and the same was done now.

 

Actually cruzin it still happens today. The design of the factory crank pulley has an inlaid rubber dampener to isolate vibration. Over time from heating and cooling cycles plus aging from the enviornment, they decay and fall out. Take a look at your factory pulley on the backside. For a car that was originally close to 50 grand the design is not a marvel in the engineering department. The LET pulley's I believe are superior as crank pulley's go, but they did miss the boat on the water pump pulley. Being they did strengthen the water pump pulley after 2 or 3 failures, I would take the LET design over Renntech or ASP. Understand this is my opinion that's all

 

When you keep in mind how many C32,SLK32,SRT6 and other MB Cars are running around thousands and thousand miles /KM without a problem, this design can't be that bad. Heard of one failed ASP-Pulley in the past. Not much, with a lot of them sold...

 

SLK32,
doesn't happen alot, but does happen, my only point

 

240m3srt:
I should have sent the pulley back because it was not the right length and I discussed that with LET. The photo was pre-installation, but being a big kid I chose to get it to fit Cut off about 0.100) and then it was mine to deal with. Photo of stock pulley versis the 181 pulley that I thought did not line up and measured it to be longer than the factory which is back on, to stay. Woody

 

WOW!, I have Already received a NEW pulley via over night air shipping!?
Just so happens I have spent a couple grand with these guys and NEVER received this type of service.
Now all I have to do is find a spare belt that for some reason is impossible to find at any parts stores. This even INCLUDES our 5 Star Chrysler Dealer which carries NO belts for any of the cars they sell. Can you believe that? So I ordered it and it is taking 6 days to arrive.
What ever happened to customer service?
Do any of you have access to the GATER belts at an affordable price? Chrysler is hitting me up for $104.00 for the factory one. Ouch!
I think I will carry a spare from now on.

 

Ive heard only positive things thus far about the gatorback belts, if i ever replace mine thats what ill switch to.

 

I got a gatorback at autozone and it was wrong type but I refused it anyway cause it looked ugly. The cross hatch was VERY irregular and unprofessional plus there was a report form another member that had poor life out of one. The chrysler connection had them less than 104 I believe. Woody ENJOY.

 

Thanks for the heads up, found a post on mbfanatics about one failing on a E55 after 8000 k/m. Will have to check it every now and then. SLK is right though it was made for lots of cars and trucks both import and domestic. It seems there were 3 versions and the final version was with the dampner proved to be the best.

 

Crusin,
If I remember correctly ASP had problems because they re-weld factory stock pulley's to make them a 178, this was a cause for some of the problems with the rubber dampeners. It is not a major concern and I wouldn't worry about it. I think with LET's new water pump pulley that will end all of the problems you've read about in the past. I have the 181 with zero issues.