posted 05-19-2005 09:44 PM ET (US)        

I was checking over the motor in preparation for a fishing trip tomorrow (rained out, it appears), and noticed the tell tale "rubber dust" that is caused by the belt rubbing on the flywheel. So I knew it was time to get a new pulley.

I called my local (40 miles away) mercury mechanic, and he didn't have any in stock, so I called the next closest one, and again, none in stock. It would take a week and $20.00 to get one ordered. Being that I'm not very patient, I decided to go to Advance Auto to see if they had anything that would work. The stock one is made by Kaysun, and it's a made of a plastic/composite material. I found a steel one the right size at Advance, and the only difference was the center hole in the bearing. But even the stock one had a spacer pressed into the bearing hole. So I bought the one from advance ($15.00), pressed out the spacer from the bearing in the OEM pulley, pressed it into the bearing on the new pulley, and installed it. It works perfectly.

So I saved $4.00, got immediate gratification, and hopefully have a pulley that will give me more than 100 hours of service.

For those of you who own the older optimaxes, keep an eye on these pulleys. (I'm not sure the newer optimaxes have the same set up.) I suspect that the dust that is created by the belt rubbing on the flywheel is not good for your engine if it's ingested. It's very easy to replace the pulley, and from my experience, you should be able to find a replacement at any decent auto parts place.

Lars