These belts shouldnt be this hard to change.. should they?

[msoumas]

I bought a set of belts to replace the aged and squeaking belts in my M1009 this morning. I got under the hood with my ratchet and started loosening up the alternators, which were both adjusted as far out as they could be for tension and still the old belts seemed a touch loose. I started with the drivers side alternator belt... and as much as I struggled I could not get the belt to go onto the alternator! Same with the passenger side belt. I spent over an hour under the hood straining and struggling to get these belts to go in with the alternators as loose as I could get them, and still no dice. Did I somehow get the wrong size belts, or are they just this $*%$@!@ hard to get on there?

 

[CCATLETT1984]

RE: These belts shouldnt be this hard to change.. should the

They shouldnt be very hard to get on, what belt #'s did you get? what brand?

For the drivers side alt you need to replace the PS pump belt and tighten it first, then put the alt belt on that side and tighten it up. The alt belts should go on snug, but not have to be pryed into place, that will cause undo bearing wear from the extra stress.

 

[CCATLETT1984]

RE: These belts shouldnt be this hard to change.. should the

The belt #'s for GoodYear GatorBack Belts (lifetime Warrenty) are as follows


Fan & PS Pump = 15461
Pass. Alt. & Fan = 15485
Dr. Alt. & Fan & PS Pump = 15581

 

[msoumas]

Great.... NONE of the belt numbers on these match up. The brand is "Dayco" and the belts supposedly matched up to the Gates belt numbers, but they obviously are not the right ones. If you kill an Advance Auto Parts employee, does it count for a whole murder or just half of one?

 

[msoumas]

Oh for the love of *#$@... I got my new 15581 belt on after taking the entire alternator OFF to get the belt to go into the pulley... tensioned it up nicely and drove around all day yesterday with it. Today on the way to work my GEN 1 light comes on and I start noticing that my generator gauge is in the low yellow area. Great. I made it to work to discover that my driver's side alternator was sitting there doing nothing, because it had no belt to spin it. Brand new belt, gone in 24 hours. And then, I discovered the culprit. Somehow, in my haste to take off/put on the alternator, I accidentally bent one of the little fan blades out and that must have cut the belt right off. Now I'm off to NAPA to find ANOTHER 15581 belt.

 

[devilman96]

Use the PN's on this page if your going to Napa... http://www.odiron.com/store/index.php?cPath=17_38

 

[msoumas]

NAPA's belt fit fine, and now that I've got that blade bent back into position I should be good to go as far as the belts go. Now to find a rear window crank and a tow shackle for the front bumper!

 

[devilman96]

Check LMC on the crank assy...

 

[1stgear]

To get my alt belts on I took the top bolt out completely. That allows the alternator to swing a little further and you can slip the belt on.

 

[msoumas]

I ended up taking the entire alternator off the mount and swinging it around so I could get that belt on there. The Gatorback was a little bit harder than NAPA's equivalent, I think because the Gatorback had a slightly deeper tread on it.