Serpentine Belt Tensioner Bushing Removal?

Hi, I’m in the process of trying to replace my serpentine tensioner bushings. They appear to be in decent condition but I can’t fathom a way to remove them. Does anyone have a technique for driving them out?

I found this on myturbodiesel:

The bearing sleeve on the one end was falling out but removing the bearing sleeve at the tensioning spring end was difficult. After trying to use punches and pliers with no movement we applied PB Blaster for lubrication and used a Craftsman 7/16 deep socket that was very close to the bore diameter. We had removed the air box by now so we drove the socket from the lever arm end towards the spring end. It look several medium hits on a shaft centered inside the socket but it moved and it pushed the sleeve out.

Click to expand...

My bushings are still in decent condition and not falling out, so maybe if I had a really long, skinny punch I could get it in there and punch it out... any suggestions?

you need to get a hacksaw blade in there, i have tried to punch them out, impossible.
dont worry about cutting the aluminum casting slightly, the new sleves will cover those.

Cut them out!

My opinion... If they're decent, then leave them. They are a headache to replace. I did one of them on my car. Figured they'd be pretty easy to do without removing the accessory bracket. Remove the old one, tap in the new one, good as new! Didn't work out that way. Ended up having to pull the bracket off the motor and spent WAY more time than I would have liked doing it. Once I finally got the one replaced, I didn't even bother doing the other one because it was decent.

Thanks gents... you’re right, they are a pain. You have to remove the alternator bracket to get the right angle of attack, and what I did was chisel away with a small chisel until I was able to get a cut down the center to relieve some pressure. Then I used a heat gun to get the sleeve to loosen in its press-fit. This worked relatively well in getting one of the bushings our mostly whole.

Pressing in the new bushings was no cakewalk- a long section of threaded rod and a few washers would likely have done the trip, but I greased ‘em up, took the caveman approach and wailed on them until they went in. The ends got a bit mangled but the job is done.

Long story short Don’t replace if they appear to be in good condition.