Pullys and belts

I am just starting belt replacement on my 96 SC engine. I LEARNED HERE that the pulley bolt threads are counterclockwise except for the lower one. One of the upper pulleys froze up so I removed this one first. I went to the next upper pulley and removed it. Here is the problem I ran into and questions I have if anyone has any ideas: The female threads on both housings are completely striped out. I first noticed some material on the threads of the bolts and looked closer and saw the damage. It looks like some body removed theses bolts the wrong way and stripped them out. But both bolts and maybe a third? And then would have had to jb weld them or something. Is this even possible? The dealer here is the only one to work on this car and did previously change the belts. Is it possible the threads just disintegrated when I removed them due to some unknown to me reason. I did turn them clockwise to loosen and with a 3/8 short breaker bar. Thx for any info.

First off, welcome to the forum

Did the bolts come out easily after you loosened them, or were they hard to take out the entire way?
On the older engines, especially after a few pulley changes, it appears that the threads are trashed, when they aren't. The belt system is designed so that the pulley turns in the same direction that the fastener tightens....so it can't fall out. If the bolts can still be tightened, I wouldn't worry about it.

However, I can't see how bad it really is to make that call....

Thank you for the reply. Yes the bolts came out easily and I went to thread them back in so not to lose and could not. I will try again but I don't even see any treads left in the housings. The bolts did seem to thread out.

Update. Think I am going to drill the female threads out and heli-thread them. Looks like easy access and a proper repair should work.

Sounds like someone used LockTite and you have pulled the aluminum threads out while removing the bolts.

If there are no to minimal threads left you can either try Heli-Coils or Thread Inserts.

If you do helicoils, be sure to use reverse thread versions to match factory spec.

Thanks for the replies, this project is still going on. I may have destroyed these threads taking them out if they were locktighted in. That makes sense to what I saw. Back to square one, fix problem not blame. I have looked on-line and locally for a reverse thread metric heli-coil: can't find one. I have drilled the holes successfully with a 25/64 inch bit. I measured 0.36 inch diameter on the original bolt and also on a fine thread 7/16 inch bolt that the heli-coil kit I can buy here calls for. I can still tap this hole for a reverse thread metric heli-coil if I can find one. Question? If I locktight the heli-coil and the 7/16 standard thread bolt in will this work? One of the 4 tensioner pullies are attached with standard thread.

Would it be easier to just replace both tensioner assemblies rather than mess with heli coils and drilling? I know that isn't the cheaper way, but it would be easier.

^^^ I was thinking that after I posted. Tensioners probably need replaced anyway if more than 150k miles.