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yep...

will be visible..

if you place it at the timing mark on the outer damper and follow around the front edge... down to the middle

you might be able to see it from the top  

Thanks, I'll do it tomorrow. Too tired now and I want to be awake doing this work. Thanks. Appreciate the help. Somehow, I'm leaning towards the idler or fan though because the crank just doesn't look terrible BUT it does have a slight visible wobble.  

No belt , fan removed . Did the timing light. I marked the pulley from the outside and down thru to the center bolt. Hooked up the induction timing light to the first cylinder. Actually put a few marks around the pulley to check for any rotation after after running the engine. Ran it only for about 20 to 30 secs since no water pump circulation etc. With the timing light, saw all the marks on the pulley staying together. No movement between. After I shut down the motor, I checked the other marks. No visible movement so I can sort of assume that the harmonic dampener is ok. I revved the motor, not hard since no belt. No visible movement between the marks on the pulley. So looks like I need to go to checking the alignment between all the pulleys. I did tug on the crank pulley looking for any movement-none. The pulley rides close to the block so probably no movement or sliding out. I pulled off the idler. There is a fully threaded bolt thru the idler. Its a ball bearing in it and not a plastic bushing. It seems to spin ok ff the mount by itself- smooth with no roughness. . However when I reattach the bolt to the mount, feel some roughness.  Bearing doesn't spin feely. Wondering if somewhere along the line it was a shoulder bolt. Or missing a thrust washer which would sit against its mount. Will have to go thru the jeep thoroughly in alignment this weekend.
Any other ideas? I keep thinking back to that stripped out bolt on the power steering unit. I put in a through bolt with a nut on the backside where the threads would be. But the threads are stripped out. And that through bolt. Maybe I need to use a square and any other tool to verify alignment. Any other suggestions?  

<Removed the double post.>  

how about painting the rear step on the damper.. with white.. the rear most edge...  all the way around.. then hook the timing light to the COIL wire.. rev the motor.. see what happens..

you should be able to see the crank damper move in and out if its going to..

it has been a while since i had a 4.0 apart.. i seem to recall a stepped washer behind the idler pulley to keep it away..

do you still have the jeep manual i let you know about  a long time ago???


DUH!~!!!

scroll up to the top few posts in this thread.. the new idler pulley has the stepped spacer that goes behind it..  it might go in the front with a thick washer behind it but smaller than the opening of the pulley..  

hmm.. the later models show a spacer behind the pulleys..




you can see them in this image of the later models.

 

you can see in this image. that item 10 hight is controlled by the adjusting screw on the top..

how tightly it engages in the sliding gear item 8...





you can see the track bar .. item 6 in this image.. where either end or the frame bracket  item 7 could be giving you problems..

 

I looked at the picture of the idler you had. I didn't see that flanged washer when I removed the bolt. I will look at the new idler and see what's in it. It may be that the guy ahead of me left it out. And thru time there is some tweeking of the inner bearing and the idler surface. That is encouraging.  And why would I come off the coil? Would I see the pulse with the timing light?  

Good pics. Thanks. I'll print it out and give it some looking into this weekend. Won't be able to do any jeep work til the weekend.  

Happy New Year. Finally got back to my jeep after all the family things I had to attend to. I did he timing marks awhile ago. Saw no movement at all between the pulley, inner and the outer and the rubber sandwich between looked fine. I replaced the idler and it was better with not as much movement of the belt slide. Looking down at the crank , can see the belt get "sloppy" . It does need to be tightened because there is too much play in the belt. I was amazed how much smoother the new idler is. I was spinning each idler, new and old off the motor and saw mo real difference. However, when mounter, it was obvious the old bearing was sticking and plain bad. So belt slide was reduced. I am going to adjust the belt to the right tension and try it tomorrow. Question, would an out of adjustment belt cause the belt to slop off the lower crank pulley? It slops off the passenger side of the car. Idler and water pump sliding belt was minimal. I took a video of it and will post it.

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Read a past post. May be the power steering pump needs to be aligned. I have a straight edge etc and will align it tomorrow then try it.
Thanks  

check the alignment of the idlers...   make sure that you have them on center...

if they are a groove type..  and they are not centered in the belt run.. do to the missing spacer behind it..  or an incorrect spacer.. you will have belt climbing issues...

some mechanics have the gates drive align system..  its a strap on laser device..  so you can see the alignment of each of the pulleys with where you have strapped the drive align laser on..

(gates rubber company..   belt and hose maker..)



85 bucks at rock auto..    150 at sears...  some parts stores might have a rental version..  

Looks like I got it. The top mounting bolt holding the power steering unit was stripped out. I had put it in with a nut on the back side but it wasn't really holding tight. So it was probably wobbling as the belt rotated on its pulley. I had to cut that bolt off because it would not come out. I put in a 5/16, 1-1/2" long socket head cap screw. Put the head end from the backside and lock nut on the front. Aligned and adjusted the belt. It has about 1/4" play in the belt at the power steering pump. Is that too tight? or Loose?
Bolt Holds it tight. Started it. And don't see any belt wandering and the bottom at the crankshaft comes off straight.  Belt ran straight. I'll drive it tonight and check it again. So seems a bad idler pulley and a loose bolt at the power steering unit caused all the hassle. I do wish this Jeep had a tensioner pully rather than the adjustment at the power steering unit being the only tension control. Wondering if the newer Jeeps have it?  

Problem solved. Belt runs true. Relieved it's not the crank pulley.  

thats great...  onward and upward...      this is depending on the shape of the freeway onramps in your area.....