I've had my 06 H3 for about 6 months now, and I go offroading pretty much every weekend, and finding mud in utah in the summer is relatively rare so I haven't put it through any significant mud holes. A few days ago I actually found a decent hole and ever since then I've noticed the tell-tale squealing of a bad tensioner pulley. I also have a friend with an identical H3 that had the same problem a few weeks ago after putting theirs through the mud for the first time. We are both lifted 6 inches with 35' tires, and this was maybe 5 inches of (utah) mud with about 6 inches of water, so it's not like we were sunk up to the doors or anything. Is this a common problem, and is there a way to prevent this from happening in the future?

Also, is there an online source for info on changing the tensioner, I mean i know the basics but I'm not sure about specific torque values or if specific torque is even needed.

 

Yours (and your buddy) is the first I've heard of.

Best way to avoid it, is drive around the mud puddle.

I have heard of pleanty of other stuff mud has messed up, alternators, radiators, half shaft seals, fender liners.....etc.

 

Buy a spare at auto zone

maybe a crankshaft too, and water pump , and idler pully,and,,,

 

The fact that it happened to 2 almost identical vehicles in a matter of a week or so makes me think that the factory tensioner is not properly sealed. I picked up a new one from auto zone, which I read is built much better than OEM. Judging by the looks it seems a lot more sturdy, I guess we'll see what happens this weekend when I take it up to Avon. In all likelihood I won't see any more mud until snow season, and I'm thinking it could be due to the fact that the mud out here has a very high sand content.

 

Thats odd.. I've been up to my door sills in mud and had my entire truck, and motor, layered in about 3" of mud. NEVER had any issues like this.

 

^^^ me either, I have had the hood buried in water for about a minute or two while I was driving around in it and had no issues at all, except for cleaning it up after. Maybe it is the Utah mudd, maybe that mudd is something different.

 

Definitely has to be the mud then...just by driving through it you can tell that it is mostly sand, with a lot of salt. I miss the east

 

Mud here isn't terribly sandy or salty. It's just pure, thick, slippery mud lol

 

YEP, on my first H3 I had the same issues about a day or 2 after a "sandy" mud hole. Dealer replaced it under warranty. I asked the tech if we could take it apart and see what the damage was. He wasn't busy so he did. The sand had penetrated the weak seal and attacked the berrings inside.

Well, my sandy muddin' days stopped right then and there.

3 HUMMERS later and that is the only idler pully I have had to replace! Lesson learned. I'd rather play on hills and rocks now.

 

u can buy just the pulley for $16 at the zone,the tension assm is 45.

btw the idler on the other side looks xactly same, but of course has a different #, also 16 bucks.
someday ill find out if it really is diff!