Faircloth0311

Hey guys, I have been wracking my brain and looking everywhere on the interwebs for a solution. And alas, I have found none. I need some insightful advice from some pros. I have a 1989 F150 XLT Lariat 2wd with the 4.9 and a 5 speed. My issue is that my air pump has gone bad (or at least the bearings in the pulley have) and I want to either bypass it or find an eliminator kit with an idler pulley. Unfortunately the only pulley like that I have found is for the 5.0. And everything I have read about the bypassing the pump sounds terrible, and I have noticed that if you do that there is a bolt on the alternator that will rub the belt. SOOO, can you use the pulley for the 5.0 on a 4.9?

Also, before all the naysayers start with the emissions control stuff, I live in Florida and we do not have emissions laws here. And I no longer have any cats in my exhaust so the pump is doing no good anyways.

Thank you all in advance for any info you can provide.

Manuellabour247

Do a search in the pre 97 section. There have been people that removed it or bypassed it with a different belt without ill effects.

Faircloth0311

I did look in that section and saw the way to bypass it that they had put up, however, doing it that way there is a bolt on the alternator that the belt would lay directly on which would cause it to get eaten up.