Hey guys..
Need some advice on (re)installing a drive belt on a '99 Cav.. I swapped out the alternator and am trying to get the belt back on.
I know that I need to loosen the tensioner, so I can get the belt back on.. the question is *how* does one do this?
I'm assuming a special tool is required to get it (as none of the wrenches I've tried fit in there)? Also, is it best to get it from above or below the car?
Any help appreciated!
Thanks
Steve..
you can fit a breaker bar or rachett into the square hole found in the middleof the tensioner and twist it for an increase in play.
use a breaker bar, just like he said, slap it into the littel square hole (3/8 drive ) if you dont have a breaker bar, use a ratched with a bar on the end of it, the longer the leverage the easier it is to hold it there while you fiddle with the belt.
nwuonline.com
Proud member on JBNW.org
JBO member since 2004
Thanks for the advice.. I've tried a standard ratchet but can't them to fit in the gap between the tensioner and the body.. I'll pick up a breaker bar and try that.. Any recommendations on one?
Thanks again,
Steve..
I figure I'll bring this post back to life instead of starting another one.
I've never changed an alternator, but am trying to do one in my friends '99 Cavalier 2.2. I thought this one would be simple since it is fairly accessible and theres also a lot of great information on here about doing it.
I got the alternator and a belt tool and thought I could do it in a couple of hours since its my first time, but it took me longer than that just to get the belt off. I first used the belt tool thinking the tensioner would move enough for me to just get the belt off, but it didn't, it barely budged. I'm pushing down as hard as I can and it moved a little, but I'm doing this by myself for now and I need two hands to push down on the tool and another two to try and slip that belt off the pulley. So I took some more advise I found on here and jacked up the car, pulled the wheel and removed the wheel liner. I then loosened the tensioner and then tried to push down on it and that made it move a little more, but I still had a hard time trying to get that belt off the pulley. Well, after over 2 hours, I finally got the belt off, the old alternator out and the new one in place. Needless to say, I am having an equally difficult time trying to get the belt back on. I'm trying to be careful and not damage the belt. Its fairly new. But I'm a big boy with big hands. I don't want to damage the belt and have to replace it and try to get my big hands into that cramped space on the side of the engine.
So, considering I've never done this before. I don't know how much a tensioner is supposed to move when you push down on it or when you loosen it. Is there something obvious that I'm doing wrong? How much should that tensioner move? Any advise to get this belt back on the alternator?
Thanks!!!
Find a friend to help, makes it much easier. Even a GF or Wife could help slip the belt on.
You wont damage it unless you try to start the engine with it in the wrong place.
So it sounds like I'm doing everything correctly? I knew it was tight, but I didn't realize it was that tight. Think I'll wait till tomorrow. Everyone is busy eating turkey right now.
Even with the tensioner as "loose" as it goes the belt will barely fit over the pulleys, there's not much extra in there.
UGH, this is frustrating me. Would it help to remove the tensioner or would that just make things more difficult?
Nevermind, I figured out my problem. I thought that I was pushing the tensioner down as far as it would go. I wasn't though. The angle I had the belt tool in was causing it to bump up against something and not move anymore, so that was stoping me from moving it, not the tensioner. I knew there had to be somethinig I wasn't doing right, just wasn't sure what.
Thanks!!!
Pep Boys carries "Performance Tools" brand, serpentine
belt tool....
Look for No. W84010, around $20....
(Comes with sockets and crows feet, but you don't need
any of these for a J body)
