Last Friday, I had a pretty odd issue with my LFP Deuce idler setup. I was driving down the road, maybe 30mph, and it sounded like I ran over a branch or something in the road. I looked in my rearview and didn't see anything, so I kept going. A few miles later, it seemed like I was really down on power, so I checked my factory boost gauge (which I honestly don't look at that much), and saw even under 3/4 throttle I wasn't making any boost. Suddenly, a fairly violent pop came from under the hood, followed by a smack-smack-smack noise. So I pulled over, and to my surprise, my blower belt was nowhere to be found, as well as the passenger side idler. The inner race was still firmly mounted to the bracket, as shown below. There was remnants of the bearing cage strewn about under the hood, and on top of the radiator shroud.
After some investigation, I figured out that the idler bearing had completely failed, causing the pulley and outer bearing race to be ejected from the vehicle and the blower belt to droop down around the crank. After a while, the loose belt wrapped around the crank pulley and snagged, taking with it the tensioner pulley and about the last 1.5" of the tensioner arm. On its way out,t he tensioner pulley put a couple fatal gouges in my 4# lower ring.
Yesterday night, I found the idler pulley along the roadside, with the outer bearing race still attached. Neither race looks exceptionally damaged, leading me to believe the bearing cage came apart, allowing the balls inside to all slop to one side and the entire bearing to seperate.
I called Lightning Force Performance last Friday, and after 8 calls to their desk someone finally picked up. I sent in pics of the damage, and luckily the idlers are still under warranty. However, I never got a call back before they took off for the weekend, and after calling them again today it turns out the guy I talked to last week "isn't in today", and will call me back tomorrow.
Has anyone else ever seen an idler bearing come apart like this? I've had plenty that squeak and grind, but never one that completely came apart with zero warning.
After some investigation, I figured out that the idler bearing had completely failed, causing the pulley and outer bearing race to be ejected from the vehicle and the blower belt to droop down around the crank. After a while, the loose belt wrapped around the crank pulley and snagged, taking with it the tensioner pulley and about the last 1.5" of the tensioner arm. On its way out,t he tensioner pulley put a couple fatal gouges in my 4# lower ring.
Yesterday night, I found the idler pulley along the roadside, with the outer bearing race still attached. Neither race looks exceptionally damaged, leading me to believe the bearing cage came apart, allowing the balls inside to all slop to one side and the entire bearing to seperate.
I called Lightning Force Performance last Friday, and after 8 calls to their desk someone finally picked up. I sent in pics of the damage, and luckily the idlers are still under warranty. However, I never got a call back before they took off for the weekend, and after calling them again today it turns out the guy I talked to last week "isn't in today", and will call me back tomorrow.
Has anyone else ever seen an idler bearing come apart like this? I've had plenty that squeak and grind, but never one that completely came apart with zero warning.
