All,
The bearing on my idler pulley has given up the ghost. I've looked on the forum, and the common suggestion is to order from IsuzuParts.com for the pulley - since it seems that the pulley that is sold by every other place (I purchased one from RockAuto - bearing too big; tried local AutoZones, Napa, Oreilly - all the same thing - did Isuzu tell companies the wrong info?) has the wrong size bearing.
So I ordered one yesterday - to the tune of $100.00 - sigh. Today I got an email saying my order was declined; I don't know why yet - I sent back an email asking why, and tomorrow I may call 'em - but I think I know why:
The pulley is likely "unobtanium" - heavy sigh.
So - is there another source for this pulley?
My next option, if there isn't, is to purchase the bearing (It seems to be a common bearing) and having a machine shop replace it in the old pulley (which is fine otherwise). Would this be the recommended way to go?
Another option - though I don't know if it is a proper option - would be to either have a "spacer" machines for the larger pulley bore to fit the original shoulder bolt - or to have a custom shoulder bolt machined to fit the larger bore. Those two options would be a last resort kind of thing, as that could get expensive quickly (though I do have friends with machine shops - but still, time and materials won't be cheap).
Can anyone give me advice, help me out in some way, etc? Like I said, I think having a new bearing installed will be my best route forward, but if anyone has other solutions, I'm all ears!