A while ago I received old idler roller with busted bearing; I swapped the bearing only with SKF 6203 2RS JEM (Made in Argentina).
Yesterday I finally put it on the car because my original roller had too much play (and soon would be making a noise)
Here are the few things I'd like to share:
1) I had to remove engine under cover (aka splash shield) and the air cleaner housing (see below). The aftermarket Dorman push clips were harder to remove than genuine Honda.
2) In order to relieve drive belt tension the alternator pivot bolt had to be loosened:


Alternator pivot bolt as seen from the top of the transmission
So I used deep 12 mm socket with 3 extensions; the entire thing was 24 inches long
After removal of the air cleaner, I placed the socket on the bolt head and let extensions to rest on the top of the lower radiator hose to starter bracket

The extension is visible between the fan and transmission
3) I match marked position of the sliding nut and tensioner bolt before loosening it; I gave belt enough slack, but left it in the place
4) The idler roller bolt was quite tight for its size; I used wrench in wrench method to break it loose. The roller comes with bolt, washer , spacer on one side and another larger spacer on the other side of the bearing. In order to get it out I had to flip it inside out (bolt head to face engine) and retrieve it from the very narrow gap between the timing cover and ABS pump (almost like pulling the stuck baby during delivery )
5) I installed the repaired roller same way (from the top) and it took 2 tries to get the bolt into the threaded hole; once there I tightened it from the bottom without any problems.
6) The rest was easy; I've also broke loose the lower starter bolt (17mm) and tightened it (for future starter swap)


Would see how long the new bearing will last. Reference about the bearing: https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/1st-...er-roller.html

 

had to do mine a few months back too. I did it from the top, and it required some real contortions. Here's what my bearing sounded like:

 

In case I missed , how many miles were on the roller when it did like that? On mine (91,000 mi) it had a noticeable play but not much noise

 

Mine had 93k miles