Tensioner for motor-vehicle timing belt

A belt tensioner comprising:

• an elongated support bar of sheet metal formed with a transversely throughgoing aperture, a cylindrical collar integral with the bar and concentric with said aperture, said collar having an inner end at said bar and an outer end and an annular inwardly directed lip formed on said outer end, said collar projecting transversely to the plane of the bar;
• a one-piece hardened metallic tubular inner bearing race centered on and elongated along a bearing axis and having one end extending into said aperture and formed with a circumferential radially outwardly open groove spaced from said one end of said bar by the length of said collar, said lip being snugly fitted in said groove and said collar hugging said one end of said inner race over the entire length of said collar;
• an outer race on and coaxial with an opposite end of said inner race, said outer race being spaced from said groove along said inner race;
• and
• roller-bearing elements at said other end between said outer race and said inner race, said elements and said outer race defining a bearing of an axial width less than the length of said inner race whereby said one end projects beyond said bearing into said aperture in said bar, said collar having an axial length equal to at least one-fifth the axial length of said inner race.