how much should water pump pulley move?

[txranger14]

89 carbed, new alt, and the belt squeals real bad on startup. but then goes away. unless its cold, then the whole time it squeals and it just sounds worse till it seems to loosen up some. its not too tight, checked the deflection on it and its around 1/2". all pulleys spin freely except the pulleys at the bottom. the a/c, idler, and bottom pulley. then the alt/whatever/bottom pulley. both of the bottom pulleys are not moveable by hand.. is this the problem? are those the water pump pulleys or is that the middle one?

just broke the alternator adjustment bolt... maybe thats why it would squeal and stop. bolt was weak and giving way.

[FestYboy]

a/c pulley should spin freely, idler should spin freely. 1/2" deflection is too much! water pump pulley should spin easily and should have no in-out play, same for the alt.

[crazyrog17]

The bottom most pulleys are connected to the crankshaft and provide power to the belts. They won't move because you're trying to crank over the engine. As long as the alt, water pump and AC compressor pulleys are easy spinning and visually in line, only belt tension cures squeaking.

I found recently my lower alternator bolt fell out. Squeaks galore. Get your alt sorted out.

[txranger14]

well, i replaced the upper altrernator bolt in the adjustment bracket. i went to tighten it and it just broke all to pieces. so i replaced it and put some belt conditioner on it and no squeaking problems. ive got a question about it running tho. you have to run it a lot for it to idle well, otherwise as soon as u let off the gas, it will die. so i either have to stay n gear and gun it in, or just gas it in neutral. will this go away the more i drive it? it has only been driven about 50 miles since 07. belt was tightened up too. deflection is much less now.

[FestYboy]

check for vaccum leaks around the carb base, look for cracked vac hoses, and be sure to look closely at the 2 thermo-vac switches UNDER the intake.

idle vaccum should be over 20" Hg and steady. idle RPM shoulld be 600-650 once warm.