Installing air conditioner belt..?

[AL92]

Is there a trick to getting it on the pulleys.Even with the air tensioner pulley loosened it seems to not want to go over. I don't feel like taking off my balancer. Do I have to fully take off the tensioner pulley and get the belt on then bolt tensioner back on?

 

[Morel]

Are you talking about the actual pully or the belt? Your title and post kinda contradicted a lil bit

If it's the actual pully your trying to get on try heating up the pully in the oven and then get it on (while using gloves)

If it's the belt, then I just shoved it on with something to pry it over while turning the pully and it should catch one of the grooves.. Maybe use a lil bit of dish soap to lube it up a lil bit..

 

[GTM]

Is there a trick to getting it on the pulleys.Even with the air tensioner pulley loosened it seems to not want to go over. I don't feel like taking off my balancer. Do I have to fully take off the tensioner pulley and get the belt on then bolt tensioner back on?

If you still have the old belt make sure you have the correct replacement. I seem to recall having to take one back on a 1G.

You may find the AC compressor has slots for adjustment. If you are sure there is no more adjustments to slacken and it just need a little persuasion then you can try installing over the other pulleys. Then with a ratchet and socket crank the motor over by hand while guiding onto the crank pulley. Be careful if you have to do any prying for you can break the fiberglass strands on the edge of the belt, sometimes you can use a piece of wood to help guide it into place. There is yet another possibility which is not recommended especially for novices, if you get the belt started then you can crank the motor just for a second each time. Make sure the belt is installed in all the groves and properly centered.

Let us know if this works for you.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[AL92]

I took the ac tensioner off and then put the belt on the air compressor and crank and back on the tensioner and then bolted the tensioner on an it worked fine.Don't like prying belts over things.

The power steering goes on easy and for the alt belt rather than taking the off alt I took off the balancer and slipped pulley over that and alt and water pump pulley. Again didn't have to pry anything that way.

So good to go there.

 

[oldman]

There was no need to remove the tensioner off, I ran into the same problem while helping a local guy on his 2G, all you had to do was to back the tension adjustment bolt out more. In short, the bolt was backed out enough to remove the old belt but not enough to install the new belt, GTM was right on.

 

[GTM]

There was no need to remove the tensioner off, I ran into the same problem while helping a local guy on his 2G, all you had to do was to back the tension adjustment bolt out more. In short, the bolt was backed out enough to remove the old belt but not enough to install the new belt, GTM was right on.

What happens is the slots get grunge and rust on them. Loosining the lock bolt perhaps too much allows the slider to tilt in the slots and it digs in, the tension bolt starts unscrewing from it's seat and the slider doesn't move. The solution is to give the bolt a smack with a hammer so it slides down, sometimes it takes 3-4 tries to bottom it out. You don't want to unscrew it 2" off the seat and then smack for the bolt can get bent. Still if the new belt is too short you don't have a lot of choice and you have try anything but it's always edgy pulling a belt into position using bolt threads as guide pins especially if they direct thread into the block or head.

Cheers,
GTM