Write-Up: Replacing Belts and Pulleys

I finally found time this past weekend to change my belts out. I hope I don't have to take all that apart again for a long time.

I made a few minor changes to the write up and I updated the links for the pictures. Let me know if something doesn't show up correctly.

speaking of pulleys. other than the supercharger pulley.. where do you guys get the pulleys for all the other accessories? do they sell a whole " pulley kit"

id like to know that too

I've bought all my pulleys at AutoZone or Advance (pretty much any auto parts store sells them). You can also order them online from GMparts Direct or RockAuto. Dealership also sells them for a higher price. Part numbers on page 1 of this thread.

They aren't sold in a kit specific to Riviera.

Hm alright so is there a specific place that everyone gets theirs

I got everything I needed from www.rockauto.com.

in the middle of doing my belts right now. i read over the right up and have to say it missed the obvious short cut. i took out the motor mount, lowered the engine down with the jack until i had a straight shot at the spacer stud bolt (e 30 and 15mm i think) took off the nut, then took out the stud and spacer with no problem. my belts are ready to go back on after less than 30 min of work. now to my next projects. metal elbows from zz performance, al104s, 180 therm, gut airbox, oil change, and instal skyjacker air shocks in the rear. wish me luck

First of all, thanks for this great write-up AA, it's very helpful!

So guys, I've been digging into some size specs for the belts and the alternator pulley, for, um reasons...

Background info:

> The accessory drive belt and tensioner pulley were replaced about 55,000 miles ago as the pulley seized up and threw the belt without any warning (at least that I noticed/remember).

> That accessory drive tensioner and belt was replaced maybe 30,000 miles ago because the tensioner should have been replaced with the pulley by the first mechanic who I think got fired not too long after that. The tensioner on there currently is probably a Dayco since it has a metal pulley on it (and the belt is a Dayco), it doesn’t look like a Dorman; also since it appears that the ACDelco and Gates ones use polymer pulleys, and I’m pretty confident that the last mechanic would have used either Dayco or ACDelco only for the tensioner by talking with him.

Current issues:

> Intermittent mild belt chirp going on for about a year (I know, long time; I thought it was a metal pulley, and it didn't get any worse until very recently; I put off mechanic because $ + inconvenience + n00b; just now doing my own car work, etc. etc.)

> Tried replacing existing BBB Industries reman alternator with a Quality-Built reman unit a week or two ago ( ...because I thought I fried the BBB one due to compound idiocy on my part, and because the BBB unit was squeaky, so I briefly thought that it may have been the culprit of the noise).

> Quality-Built unit caused more belt chirp. I later found out it was mainly because the pulley had non-oem dimensions on at least two counts (diameter is 3mm+ too small, and outer rim thickness is a few mm wider i think). The BBB unit pulley seems to have the correct OEM dimensions at first measure. The pulley btw actually has a GM part # (10457238). Based on the OEM dimensions, this one would be correct:
http://store.alternatorparts.com/partno241281.aspx
http://www.aspwholesale.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=489

> I made the mistake of using belt dressing to attempt and quiet the belt but it made it far worse and practically unbearable.

> I undid the damage by cleaning out each groove of the (hardened spots of tar?) and occasional teeny bit of metal with a screwdriver and cleaning the belt up with some carb cleaner. It chirped moderately for a few days after that but is now back to mild and intermittent.

> I recently looked closer at everything related to that pulley path after some self-education (with the help of Google, EricTheCarGuy, and of course, Rivperformance) and realised that I may have a pulley alignment problem with BOTH alternators (eyeballed it, I just got a line laser + battery pack to help confirm once I assemble it) , but definitely so with the Quality-Built unit. To top it off, the water pump pulley looks out-of-round and the power steering pulley ridges appear to be not spinning true! I’m betting this is why my tensioner pulley is bouncing up and down a bit. I’m guessing that they got that way when the belt got thrown, and the second mechanic missed noticing that the tensioner was far from solid.

> Investigating the belt performance + dimensions of Dayco (5060940) vs. Gates (K060938) vs. ACDelco (6K938), It appears that the Dayco is almost ½” smaller @ 94.09” (and marginally more narrow by like 0.2mm) than the ACDelco or Gates at 94.5”!

I’m going to replace the water pump, power steering, and acc. drive tensioner (it looked worn) pulleys, and address the alignment issue with washers… but then I still have a quandary… assuming the output voltage is OK… which alternator pulley do I use? Also, do I use the current Dayco belt which may be ½” too small, causing undue stress on the belt path pulleys; or it also may be stretched (I can’t tell without pulling it off, and since I have a 1998 Riv, that would be a PITA just to measure) causing chirp or non-optimal performance, or heck maybe it’s perfect now, I don’t know… My inclination is to replace both alternator pulley and belt with OEM spec pulley and Gates/ACDelco belt, but I hesitate to swap the belt out now because I’m not sure how to support the engine before I take the mount off, and I don’t have an engine lift and it would cost me about $100 to get one which I’d rather not do atm since I have other minor annoyances I’m trying to fix with my Riv and I know they won’t be free fixes LOL.


What do you all think?

So, any opinions on these aluminum tensioner, idler and water pump pulleys that were linked elsewhere:

http://www.smoothflowpulleys.com/3800_MPS.html


They are pricey, but then again replacing four normal steel/plastic pulleys is $50-100+ depending on material and brand. So maybe these for $160-170 aren't that unreasonable, especially since the bearing is serviceable.

I would wonder if their lighter weight would make any really worthwhile difference (in theory less rotational mass = less drag), and how aluminum would hold up.

Note their underdriven water pump pulley.  I wonder if that is even wise on a street engine.

Al

Al, what bothers me most is that the page doesn't list dimensions.

I think earlier in this thread that someone said that the polymer pulleys probably offered little in the way of real-world improvements, but I don't know for sure. I'd think that the drag affected by pulley material would only matter early on rpm increase and even-so, the I'd think the drag would be affected far more by belt, bearing, and tension quality. Maybe these would be good if you're racing though and you need that little extra fraction of a second response/speed without concern for a polymer pulley grenading?

Got a tear on my SC belt from the plastic grooved idler pulley exploding. Not gonna have time to do this job for awhile it seems, so I was wondering, are there any negatives to cutting the SC belt before it shreds and tears the insulation or crank sensor wiring until I can replace it?

BMD wrote:

Got a tear on my SC belt from the plastic grooved idler pulley exploding. Not gonna have time to do this job for awhile it seems, so I was wondering, is there any negatives to cutting the SC belt before it shreds and tears the insulation or crank sensor wiring until I can replace it?

shouldn't be a problem. We run ours without often. (my brother puts on a LOT of miles and is trying to get milage and run on cheap gas a lot of the time). It will just be slower.

Ok, thanks Derek. By the way, how is the two tone paint job you gave her looking?

BMD wrote:

Ok, thanks Derek. By the way, how is the two tone paint job you gave her looking?

Well it's been keyed  ... but the roof is holding up pretty well. Rust has started to return under the passenger side rear molding, which is why I dived into the bodywork in the first place, so I'm not too happy about that either. The paint itself that I laid down is in decent shape, but my bro never washes the thing, so it looks terrible all the time. He's also put about 100K on it since I sold it to him, although now that I think of it that was almost 4 years ago.

Doing this tomorrow. Will have my laptop sitting on top of the engine with this page open. Will report back.

I have given up and called my mechanic. Everything is done but I can't bolt the friggin' power steering pump back on. I'm not even close. He's stopping over and I'll pay him anything he wants to bolt it on for me. I've rebuilt my entire '69, 5 engines and 9 transmissions and 2 rears. Paint, interior and suspension. And I've never had a problem like this before. Impossible to get at. What a joke. Not worth my time. If I had known this going in I'd have gladly paid $400 for him to do the whole job.

And FYI... for everyone screaming about METAL PULLEYS... there is no exact METAL replacement for the supercharger idler pulley. The replacements are plastic. So before you drive from parts store to parts store claiming that you know for a fact there is a replacement metal pulley, looking like a total douche-bag, just buy the plastic one and bolt it on. I don't know if this was mentioned in this thread or not, but it would be nice if it were. Would have saved me about 30 minutes or more. The metal one Rockauto lists is bigger than the original plastic one.

Calm down Yardman, LOL Working on cars can be a frustrating experience. Murphy's law applies big time. Yes, the P/S pump is a pain, but it is doable. Sounds like you just had enough for today. If I was closer, I'd drive over and help.

My mechanic stopped by, and with him above and me below we had it installed in 30 seconds. A second pair of hands and set of eyes works miracles. Great write-up. Maybe add the part about the metal and plastic pulleys.

What was so hard about bolting it back on? I did this 5 months ago and didn't remember having any issues. maybe you didn't have the right socket/extension combo for the tool to reach?

I noticed today my rear tensioner pulley looks to be getting ready to go. Or rather you can watch the bolt in the center visibly bouncing around quite a bit. Should I be expecting just the tensioner pulley or the whole tensioner unit to replace?

I just had my ACC tensioner pulley go out Today. Looks like you can just get a replacement pulley only. I'll be doing this tonight after work.

I really wish it hadn't taken yours goin out on you to confirm that but thanks all the same and a godspeed recovery tour beautiful riv man. Deer think they're all majestic n crap so it really pisses em off when they see somethin like a riv comin down the road...

Thanks. Hopefully I'll get it back on the road tonight. Then I can get that deer damaged fixed. It just snowed here too. So the timing for all of this couldn't be better, lol.