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Well this was a first for me.
short local trip and all the sudden the gear shifter starts making the strangest rattle on acceleration.
pulled over piped the engine lid only to find this.

fortunately I had a spare back at the house so a quick rescue trip from the wife and I was back up and running.

any one know what might have caused this to fail?

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Yeah, two things:

  1. Using a cheap Asian reproduction pulley that was too weak and
  2. Running the fan belt over-tight (for the weakness of the pulley) causing the pulley to fracture.

You could try looking at Bug City or some site like that for a real German pulley, but be prepared for serious sticker shock.

https://www.bugcity.com/shop/shop.lasso?pquery=pulley

Apart from that, try to find a heavy duty or at least beefy pulley from the usual suppliers.

Asian Fans are like that, too - They tend to rip the center of the fan apart because of too-thin metal used making them weaker.

There's a process for tightening the pulley and fan belt that requires a number of shim washers to be used between the two halves of the pulley.  You add shims to make the belt looser and remove shims to make it tighter.  How many used is up to the pulley diameter and the length and thickness of the belt.

Using the right number of shims to get 3/8" - 1/2" deflection at the middle of the belt when adjusted correctly is very critical!  See a VW service manual for 1970 or so for more details.

Last edited by Gordon Nichols
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