Write-Up: Replacing Belts and Pulleys

billythekid7 wrote:

is there a trick to doing this idler pully for the supercharger in front of the motor mount....or how do you know how to do it the easiest way???...i have a 98 riv sc

thanks

There is a complete write up on here somewhere that explains how to replace all pulleys and belts with pictures and descriptions and i believe P/N's of all the pulleys and highlights showing which ones are left hand threads.
I do not know which pulley you are referring to but the write up has a good pic of the engine pointing out all the pulleys, their names, the P/N's and direction of rotation for the fasteners.
You may not need to change all the pulleys that this write up describes, but you can easily pull out of it the information on pulling the engine mount to get to the lower pulley (if that is the one you need to replace, the one you can hardly see at the bottom).
If you haven't replaced all the pulley's and this one is making noise then consider doing all of them at once, it will save you a lot of grief in the future.
When one starts to go, they all are usually ready to follow.
If you have already done the other but just put off doing this one because of the difficulty then ignore my previous suggestions.
Without the cost of belts, I think i spent about $100.00 to do all the pulleys at the same time (with a discount from local Auto Parts store) I used metal pulleys to replace any that were plastic.

Edit: It looks like our posts have been moved for us by admin. This is where all your questions will be answered.
Start at the beginning and read through and print what you will need to do the job.

Two words: THAT SUCKED!!!

Great write-up though. Glad to finally have tackled this for my Riv. Took a little longer than 3 hours. That power steering pump was a bitch and made me cry tears of frustration

playa wrote:

Two words: THAT SUCKED!!!

Great write-up though. Glad to finally have tackled this for my Riv. Took a little longer than 3 hours. That power steering pump was a bitch and made me cry tears of frustration

Completing your first one is almost like a rite of passage.
Congratulations!

playa wrote:

Two words: THAT SUCKED!!!

Great write-up though. Glad to finally have tackled this for my Riv. Took a little longer than 3 hours. That power steering pump was a bitch and made me cry tears of frustration

It's fun tryin to get those 13mm's through the pulley and in ain't it?

That was one of the "fun" parts of the job, as I recall. Congrats on getting this done, you shouldn't have to revisit this project for a long time now. I also took longer than 3 hrs, but then I do anything BUT rush thru these jobs.

I just did mine today. All 4 pulleys and 2 belts. It took me about 5 hours to do. I could not get the bolts started in the power steering pump. You are working blind because you can't see where the bolt holes are. I used all Dayco steel pulleys and Goodyear Gator Back belts. I hope I don't have to do this again for a while. All of the pulleys that I removed were original and all were plastic. The car is a 1996 Riv with 190000 miles on it. I never thought about changing the pulleys until I read this thread. I'm glad its over, I have to go rest my back for a while. I want to thank everyone who enlightened this forum. See you next time

Congrats on finishing the job. It's a pain in the neck, but you probably saved yourself $200-300 labor!

I just replaced all 4 pulleys and new belts on my Riv over the weekend. Took about 4 hours, could have done it in a shorter time if the parts store hadn't given me one incorrect pulley and I forgot to put the spacer back on the bracket stud that is behind the power steering pump. Needless to say after having to unbolt and bolt the power steering pump twice in that time span I'm pretty good and finding the bolt holes and getting those two bolts started now. It was not as hard of a process as I thought it would be, just time consuming.

Man my s/c idelier pully just blew up on me one belt is gone and the acc belt is about to go ? can i start the car with out the s/c hooked up and what will happen to the car if i drive it without the s/c idelier pully is not on man i wish one of u guys lived in MD

Yes you can drive the car moderately without the SC belt on.

Eldo wrote:

Yes you can drive the car moderately without the SC belt on.

. . . but you won't like it very much. No power at all.

Jayrydingslab wrote:

Man my s/c idelier pully just blew up on me one belt is gone and the acc belt is about to go ? can i start the car with out the s/c hooked up and what will happen to the car if i drive it without the s/c idelier pully is not on man i wish one of u guys lived in MD

This just happened to my dad, and in his case the pulley seized. But whats weird is that I couldn't find any evidence of the exploded plastic pulley parts?

BMD wrote:

Jayrydingslab wrote:

Man my s/c idelier pully just blew up on me one belt is gone and the acc belt is about to go ? can i start the car with out the s/c hooked up and what will happen to the car if i drive it without the s/c idelier pully is not on man i wish one of u guys lived in MD

This just happened to my dad, and in his case the pulley seized. But whats weird is that I couldn't find any evidence of the exploded plastic pulley parts?

Confession:

I've lost the SC idler pulley and the acc idler pulley the same way. Which taught me this general observation:

Do not ignore squeaks under the hood.

Even if you decide to delay repair, at least ascertain the cause.

Albertj

What happened to all the pics???????

BMD wrote:

What happened to all the pics???????

They are still there. You have to right click on the picture and copy the link to the address bar. I guess the image host that jack originally used when he created the write up decided to turn off hot linking pictures.

albertj wrote:

BMD wrote:

Jayrydingslab wrote:

Man my s/c idelier pully just blew up on me one belt is gone and the acc belt is about to go ? can i start the car with out the s/c hooked up and what will happen to the car if i drive it without the s/c idelier pully is not on man i wish one of u guys lived in MD

This just happened to my dad, and in his case the pulley seized. But whats weird is that I couldn't find any evidence of the exploded plastic pulley parts?

Confession:

I've lost the SC idler pulley and the acc idler pulley the same way. Which taught me this general observation:

Do not ignore squeaks under the hood.

Even if you decide to delay repair, at least ascertain the cause.

Albertj

TRUTH.

Friend of mine has a 99' Regal GS. Called me complaining about a squeak and funny grinding noise under the hood. I told him to check pulleys. He was too lazy and said noise went away. Literally a week later he said the car wasn't making boost and he lost the belt. All that was left on the SC tensioner was the hub/nub of the old plastic pulley. The pulley shot off to between the engine compartment and the back of the headlight housing. It was fun prying the old bearing off the tensioner... haha

To anyone who has cut their spacer in half, what did you use to cut it? And were you able to cut it evenly in half?

I'd think a hacksaw would do it.

AA wrote:

I'd think a hacksaw would do it.

Yeah, I'm sure a hack saw would do it. I'm just concerned about cutting it straight, so that the 2 halves fit together without aligning. I wonder if a machine shop could cut it perfectly? Has anyone measured the spacer?

Below is the proceedure I located direct from AllDataPro to replace my idler pulley which is making some noise - moderator please put this where it needs to be - THIS CAN'T BE RIGHT If anyone has replaced the idler pulley please post a write up. Thanks!

Drive Belt Idler Pulley Replacement

REMOVAL PROCEDURE

J 28467-360 Engine Support Fixture
J 28467-94 Engine Support Fixture Adapter
J 28467-330 Engine Support Fixture Adapter
J28467-350 Engine Support Fixture Adapter

Raise the vehicle. Suitably support the vehicle. Refer to Vehicle Lifting.
Remove the front lower splash shield.
Drain the coolant. Refer to Draining and Filling the Coolant System in Cooling System.
Close the radiator drain cock. Install the front splash shield.
Lower the vehicle.
Install the J 28467-360 to the engine.
Remove the supercharger belt. Refer to Drive Belt Replacement (VIN 1).
Remove the ignition module.
Remove the supercharger belt tensioner. Refer to Drive Belt Tensioner Replacement (VIN 1).
Remove the accessory drive belt. Refer to Drive Belt Replacement (VIN 1).
Remove the torque axis engine mount. Refer to Engine Mount Replacement.
Remove the power steering pump. Set the pump aside. Refer to Power Steering Pump Replacement in Steering and Suspension.
Remove the engine mount bracket. Refer to Engine Mount Bracket Replacement.
Remove the idler pulley/bracket bolts.
Remove the idler pulley/bracket.
INSTALLATION PROCEDURE

Install the idler pulley/bracket.
Install the idler pulley/bracket bolts.
Tighten the bolts to 50 Nm (37 ft. lbs.) .
NOTICE: Refer to Fastener Notice in Service Precautions.

Install the engine mount bracket. Refer to Engine Mount Bracket Replacement.
Install the power steering pump. Refer to Power Steering Pump Replacement in Steering and Suspension.
Install the torque axis engine mount. Refer to Engine Mount Replacement.
Install the accessory drive belt. Refer to Drive Belt Replacement (VIN 1).
Install the supercharger belt tensioner. Refer to Drive Belt Tensioner Replacement (VIN I -Supercharger).
Install the ignition module.
Install the supercharger belt. Refer to Drive Belt Replacement (VIN 1).
Remove the engine support fixture.
Refill the coolant. Refer to Draining and Filling Cooling System in Cooling System.

which pulley? This sounds like the procedure for the pulley stuck behind the engine mount, in which case it's a relatively accurate procedure, although I don't think you need to drain the coolant. I didn't. For the other pullies you don't need to remove the front engine mount.

Yep, thats the procedure for that pulley behind the mount.....

ugh............thanks! How about preferences for Gatorback vs other's...I have researched and seem to think gatorback is best bet also a friend of mine said he has a 3.06" dia pulley??? what would this do for me i have seen many others and was considering a 3.4 from ZZP prior to hearing this may be available?

BKRIV wrote:

ugh............thanks! How about preferences for Gatorback vs other's...I have researched and seem to think gatorback is best bet also a friend of mine said he has a 3.06" dia pulley??? what would this do for me i have seen many others and was considering a 3.4 from ZZP prior to hearing this may be available?

Gatorback's are good belts. Don't run a supercharger pulley smaller than stock without the supporting modifications. It takes a lot of supporting mods to be able to run smaller than a 3.4. Here are some threads that you need to check out:

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t23-faq-modding-101-how-to-increase-acceleration-performance

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t28-faq-what-is-spark-knock-what-is-kr-knock-retard

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t3656-faq-smaller-sc-pulley-what-size

Quote :

How about preferences for Gatorback vs other's...I have researched and seem to think gatorback is best

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t607-faq-serpentine-belts-brands-and-types