NAPA belts and a word of the wise

[idM1028]

Seeing as how I was messing around with alternators today, my power steering belt seemed to be stretched out a bit and has been squealing and I have a 900 mile drive ahead of me tomorrow, I decided to replace the belts on the truck today. I had anticipated this and went down to NAPA with the belt lengths from the wiki and picked up a set of three new belts. I decided to go with the NAPA belts since I had heard the Daycos (which I had on the truck) can stretch out too much even after a few months, whereas the NAPA premium belts were much better. Unfortunately, the NAPA belts only come in full lengths (instead of half-inch lengths in the wiki), so I believed I tried to go a bit under. Wow, are they tight. Some were actually TOO tight. No matter how much I fiddled and strained and struggled, I couldn't get the power steering belt on and I had to cut down the ground stud on my newly rebuilt GEN2 using a bench grinder since to get the alt close enough to slip the belt on I had to slip it on one side of a solid metal line (I think its a fuel line) near the engine block. The problems arose when I tried to stretch the belt out on the pulley and couldn't get the stud past the line. Thus far I'm happy with the belts, they look nice and beefy and the alts and what-not aren't stretched all the way out on the brackets, but next time I get these belts, I think I might add an inch or so to the lengths I need.

 

[Terracoma]

What NAPA part numbers did you go with?

Searching brings up a lot of different part numbers, but the sizes you need will depend on the size of the pulleys on your engine. The part numbers in the Wiki seem to fit trucks with the stock (original) pulleys fine, but if your pulleys have been replaced, you may need to play guess and check to find the right size.

 

[idM1028]

Cool. Thanks for the #'s. The belts also might be a bit wider than they should be. The packaging saying they're 13mm wide. I believe correct belt width is 10mm. I also just noticed that they're the "premium" belts, but it also says "industrial belt" on the packaging. . . Either way, they should be nice and sturdy and they're working. . . well. . . I don't want to jinx it, so take a guess. Here's what I went with:

DS Alt- A56 (58")
PS Alt-A47 (49")
PS Pump-A43 (45")

 

[998Junkie]

Don't know if this will help but I had a similar issue when I changed the belts and the harmonic balancer. If you hook the belt behind the crank pulley (there is a space between the balancer and the pulley, you can pull the belts over the power steering and alternator pulleys a lot easier, then go back and hook the belt to the crank pulley.

 

[idM1028]

The one thing we didn't try! Have to keep that in mind when I do the power steering belt. I've done belts on the truck before and I think I just picked up the wrong length. Like I said, they're pretty beefy and the ones that WERE the correct length are still pretty tight even without being at the ends of the brackets. My back is not liking that job right now.

 

[doghead]

Did you search the forums for belt numbers? There a many threads with the belt numbers listed. Like this one, http://www.steelsoldiers.com/cucv/36607-belts-my-m1009.html

Or Did you look in the -20P TM? The part numbers are there too and you can google them or call a Chevy dealer with the numbers.

And then there is the WIKI.

 

[idM1028]

Did you search the forums for belt numbers? There a many threads with the belt numbers listed. Like this one, http://www.steelsoldiers.com/cucv/36607-belts-my-m1009.html

Or Did you look in the -20P TM? The part numbers are there too and you can google them or call a Chevy dealer with the numbers.

And then there is the WIKI.

I checked in the wiki for the correct lengths. Other than the problem I mentioned the only other problem I've had is the belt for GEN1 whacking the little guard on the screw clamp for the upper radiator hose. Probably because its a bit bigger than it should be. Its annoying at idle, but once the truck gets going it goes away (or at least you can't hear it anymore) and from what it looks like its there to keep the belt from whacking the hose/clamp in the first place.

 

[Cucvnut]

i hvae napa belts i got from the wiki and i hvae has no issues with mine at all.