T1N 2.7 Serpentine belt install... my way.

220629

Well-known member
T1N 2.7 Serpentine belt install... my way. Not necessarily the best way. Jump in here if you have more tips or suggestions.

Installing a belt should be easy. I find there are a couple tricks which work for me.

One trick is using my long hose loosen/removal pick tool as a prod to move the belt around where I'd like it to be... at least for a short time until the bent up out of the package belt decides to have a mind of its own. A long screwdriver might help.

HosePickTool.jpg

First pin the tensioner using a strong nail (#10? not aluminum) or drill bit (1/8"?). A 17 mm 12 point wrench, square drive, or T60 Torx will work to lever the tensioner.

I begin by pushing the belt down past the high pressure fuel pump to get the doubled belt into the general area of the water pump pulley aka Fan.

Loop the belt down over the alternator pulley and basically over the upper idler pulley. Don't worry that it is perfect.

After routing over the anti-flutter pulley I route the top belt over the two large pulleys on the right hand side as you face the engine. Again, they won't necessarily stay exactly in place. Close is good enough.

The general goal is to get the belt into the basic route around the outsides and then move down to below the truck.

Move down under the truck.

Typically there are now two choices depending upon what the pre-bends in a new belt want to do.

You may be able to position the belt around the Harmonic Balancer HB and then get the loose loop of the belt to go up near the tensioner pulley. From there go back above and position the belt over the tensioner pulley.

The new belt might fight that.

An alternative. If the belt wants to more easily first loop over the tensioner pulley, that is ok too. Back above, loop the belt over the tensioner pulley and then go back below to work the belt down around the HB pulley. There is enough slack to pop over the HB lip. If it fights you something is likely out of place.

After the belt is in place, double check that the belt is properly routed and seated against all the pulleys. Release the tension, remove the pin, slowly tension the belt. Triple check that the belt is properly seated into all pulleys/components. Start the engine for visual inspection. The belt should spin in line without wobble or side movement.

In summary.
From above insert the doubled approximate center of the belt (rib faces toward each other) into the space above the high pressure pump. Loop the belt over the two smaller pulleys on the left. From there loop the belt down over the two large pulleys on the right. From below/above either loop the belt around the HB and then the tensioner pulley, or loop the tensioner and then finish around the HB.

I hope the above makes sense.

WasherBottleBeltRoute02a.jpg

:cheers: vic
 
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220629

Well-known member
Related.
Smooth running of the belt is what should be observed. If you noticed wobble or other tracking issues it can be signs of tensioner, idler, or other issues.

If belt wobble isn't traced to other components, it may be a sign of impending HB failure.

From the NCV3 section. :thumbup:

I just changed the serpentine belt, and looking at everything with a fine-tooth comb I notice (at idle speed) that the belt wiggles back-and-forth a little bit on the tensioner pulley. The amount of movement is 1/16 inch at most. The tensioner bearing felt good. No movement like this over the idler pulleys. Anybody know if this is normal? Maybe a side-effect of a brand new belt? Wish I would have looked at this before pulling the old belt off.
I had this issue recently, was the harmonic balancer aka crank shaft pulley.
:cheers: vic

A thought if on the road and the anti-flutter pulley is your problem. WON'T WORK!! :bash:

I went out and noticed that there is quite an angle created by the anti-flutter pulley.

GroovedPulleyBeltInstalled.jpg

Possible temporary operation if the upper idler anti-flutter pulley fails (the factory style OEM pulley is smooth).

The belt system should run without that anti-flutter pulley. Keeping to reasonable speeds it should work for a reasonable length of time.

I have not tried running without the pulley. If anyone decides to try emergency operation without that idler in place you should first start the engine and observe how the belt is tracking. If ok at idle try revving a bit to see how it does. My bet is that with light throttle use it will be good enough to get down the road to replacement parts or service.

:2cents: vic
 
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