Change Auxiliary Belt [no a/c]

[kwnelson]

I Followed Shnazzle's excellent "How To" and took note of Carolyn's added advise.     All went well until the "give it some welly" part, regarding the relieving the pressure off the belt by means of a 19mm socket and a breaker bar.   I even improved on Carolyn's long socket being inserted to hold the pressure off.  by shaping off a chunkey hardwood wedge in readiness.   Loads of thought went into this prior to starting,   but it all went wrong as soon as I applied pressure to the breaker bar.  the socket, correctly sized at 19mm straightway stripped the dummy hexagonal nut.    I had used a normal socket which has multiple tips internally which simply pealed off the ALLOY dummy nut corners!  I did manage to get the old belt off and the new one on to the smooth tensioner jockey wheel, using levers, screw drivers, brute strength and determination to ease the tensioned wheel back,  to eventually reduce the tension.     For future reference, be advised, use a FULL HEXAGONAL SOCKET and avoid this problem.

[Carolyn]

I Followed Shnazzle's excellent "How To" and took note of Carolyn's added advise.     All went well until the "give it some welly" part, regarding the relieving the pressure off the belt by means of a 19mm socket and a breaker bar.   I even improved on Carolyn's long socket being inserted to hold the pressure off.  by shaping off a chunkey hardwood wedge in readiness.   Loads of thought went into this prior to starting,   but it all went wrong as soon as I applied pressure to the breaker bar.  the socket, correctly sized at 19mm straightway stripped the dummy hexagonal nut.    I had used a normal socket which has multiple tips internally which simply pealed off the ALLOY dummy nut corners!  I did manage to get the old belt off and the new one on to the smooth tensioner jockey wheel, using levers, screw drivers, brute strength and determination to ease the tensioned wheel back,  to eventually reduce the tension.     For future reference, be advised, use a FULL HEXAGONAL SOCKET and avoid this problem.

You live and learn eh?  There are loads of instances where a 12 point socket is a bad idea.  Any time you're going to be really leaning on a bolt head, six-pointers are a must.  I think you'll find that an impact six-pointer will still work on that rounded head, by the way.  A set of these is not very expensive and they will come in handy often (doing brake jobs for one!).  You never know when you might need to take the belt off to do another job!

I shall make an addendum to the How-To.

[ad_car_08]

Just giving this a go now (with hex socket!), pushed the tensioner forward (which was bloody hard!!) and pulled the belt off, but now it's almost like it's stuck?! The tensioner didn't push back?

When I pushed the fake nut forward to release pressure, I could literally let go of the breaker bar and (carefully) poke the loose belt.

Im guessing I need a new tensioner? Seems weird it was working before I got involved with it...

[Carolyn]

You could take the tensioner off.

One 12 mm nut and one 17mm bolt.  Bit of a fiddle but really not too bad.  The long bolt stays in the tensioner once it's loose and it all comes out.

Then you can knock the pivots apart, clean and grease and put it back together.  Done it to a couple of them and it worked out fine.

edit:  I doubt it was fully functional before you touched it- more likely stuck in the tension-on position.

[ad_car_08]

Is it possible to get a replacement plunger/tensioner or is it literally a whole new arm and plunger jobby?

[Carolyn]

It won't be the spring (well probably not) more likely stiff pivots.

Edit:  Just to be clear:  the main pivot where the big bolt goers through is the main one.  Pry off the caps and knock the pin out.  Clean it all up, and grease it.  Put the pin back and the caps on.

You can give the pivot at the bottom off the spring the same treatment.

Bet it cures it.

I KNEW I had one kicking about!  The collar in the centre of the pic should rotate in the casting.  That's the bit to free-off.

[ad_car_08]

Thank you for your advice Carolyn, managed to get it working again!
My brother and I gave it all a jiggle, and ended up taking the lot off, spraying and lube'ing any friction points with copper slip and putting it all back together.

Definitely working 10x better than it was, and now springing back to give good tension on the belt again 

[Lancsman]

IV just done my aux belt change and had the same problem as ad_car_08. The tensioner pulley pushed forwards, and I released old belt. Then I thought for safety I'll release my socket completely off the fake nut so I can fiddle with new belt. Big mistake. There was loads of recoil tension, but when it was time to retention the pulley for the final cog with new belt it wouldn't move. It was I think resting on the top of the crank pulley! So I decided to pull rather than push my breaker bar with socket on the fake fulcrum nut and it snapped off! Oh dear, the new belt was almost on the alternator by hand, so I cranked the engine for a millisecond a few times, and the belt settled nicely into all the pulleys. Phew!! But now, in 60k miles from now I'm going to have fun getting the slack on the tensioner with no fake nut to lever against!!

[Carolyn]

You'll have to cut the belt off and unbolt the tensioner from the engine.

I have a spare bit you can have (you'll have to swap over the spring assembly and pulley. Or get a new pulley) - a small donation to the club would be nice - but not obligatory.
 You'd  be surprised how often that belt has to come off to do other work!!  (Alternator - Oil Control Valve, Camshafts/valve buckets... to name a few.

Pm me with your address?

You cannot view this attachment.

[james_ly]

12 point sockets have caused me so much grief generally, I'd never go back after buying 6 points!