As time goes on, I'm seeing fewer and fewer Contours on the road and more and more in the junkyard. People will only spend so much and then they junk them. The only reason mine is on the road is I do all my own work. I've probably repaired it far long that I should have, but once I learn a machine, I stick with it.
I just finished doing my 4th or 5th timing belt install. I bought the 99 LX in 2008 with ~82K on it and it's got 164K on it now. It seems like every time I do these timing belts, I run into the same darn problem. I like the Gates kits since Gates is supposed to be good quality. I go through the same old routine where O'Reilly's gives me a Gates TCK239A kit and it doesn't work since my Contour is a 10/98 production with a silver top Zetec 2L. The upper idler pulley is too small and the tensioner won't tighten the belt enough. So I go back, get a TCK239 and it comes with that upper idler that has a hollow tube for the mounting boss and my bolt is too long to fit it. Notice the first photo shows a bearing with a green seal and that hollow tube for a mounting boss. It's not solid...it's like someone welded a washer to the end of the tube. What I somehow end up with the 2nd photo with the machined boss that supports the bolt all the way through.
I was in a bit of a time crunch and got tired of waiting 2 weeks for every single part to arrive plus iron out all the problems so I found a harbor freight 15mm impact socket fit perfectly in the the hollow tube mounting boss as long as I hand filed the raised metal from the stamping that said Pittsburgh 15mm. Then I took the bolt from the 2nd photo and inserted it and it worked. I only had to file just a little bit of the aluminum cover so the bolt head had more than 2 sheets of paper worth of clearance between it and the cover. Just got done putting about 80 miles on the contour with this arrangement. I think the 2nd pulley is from the Cloyes kit. But can someone tell me why the Gates TCK239A is made this way and is there supposed to originally be a factory bushing that inserts in that tube?
I just finished doing my 4th or 5th timing belt install. I bought the 99 LX in 2008 with ~82K on it and it's got 164K on it now. It seems like every time I do these timing belts, I run into the same darn problem. I like the Gates kits since Gates is supposed to be good quality. I go through the same old routine where O'Reilly's gives me a Gates TCK239A kit and it doesn't work since my Contour is a 10/98 production with a silver top Zetec 2L. The upper idler pulley is too small and the tensioner won't tighten the belt enough. So I go back, get a TCK239 and it comes with that upper idler that has a hollow tube for the mounting boss and my bolt is too long to fit it. Notice the first photo shows a bearing with a green seal and that hollow tube for a mounting boss. It's not solid...it's like someone welded a washer to the end of the tube. What I somehow end up with the 2nd photo with the machined boss that supports the bolt all the way through.
I was in a bit of a time crunch and got tired of waiting 2 weeks for every single part to arrive plus iron out all the problems so I found a harbor freight 15mm impact socket fit perfectly in the the hollow tube mounting boss as long as I hand filed the raised metal from the stamping that said Pittsburgh 15mm. Then I took the bolt from the 2nd photo and inserted it and it worked. I only had to file just a little bit of the aluminum cover so the bolt head had more than 2 sheets of paper worth of clearance between it and the cover. Just got done putting about 80 miles on the contour with this arrangement. I think the 2nd pulley is from the Cloyes kit. But can someone tell me why the Gates TCK239A is made this way and is there supposed to originally be a factory bushing that inserts in that tube?
