Write-Up: Replacing Belts and Pulleys

it is very easy to remove the pump. much easier than trying to pull that stupid pulley off with a puller while it's on the car. the reason it has to come off is to access the left bolt holding the engine mount bracket.

I recommend replacing all of the idlers, belts and there are some plastic cooling connectors that get brittle on that side of the engine.

Working on a 97.

I can't figure out how you guys are slipping the belts on and off. I can't seem to find a slot on the engine mount bracket. The mount itself is off.

manofmany wrote:

Working on a 97.

I can't figure out how you guys are slipping the belts on and off. I can't seem to find a slot on the engine mount bracket. The mount itself is off.

When you remove the mount , there are two bolts on the front of that bracket holding it towards the front. Remove them ( 15mm for the top and 19mm for the bottom , IIRC) and the studs that have a star type head on them but can be removed with a regular socket , and lower the engine so you can get the bottom bolt out , drop the spacer pin that runs between the bottom of the bracket and the engine , and you can then squeeze the belts through there.

Off to see what I can accomplish. Do I need to remove the passenger wheel to get to the bottom bolt?

No, I did everything from over the fender.

I got it off and figured out what spacer everyone was talking about. Now I get to play with routing these belts Thanks guys!

Look it at this way - if you ever have to do it again, it'll be MUCH easier!

He is going to have to do it again soon, to replace the son-of-a-bitch pulley.

Nevermind. All done and overall it's not a hard repair, but a little tricky if you don't know what you're doing. This guide and everyone else really helped. Thanks fellas.

WOW, I don't think I can handle that, I hoped you could loosen tensioner and check for slop and tighten up tensioner and go.
Thanks I think

Yes you can. There is one step in there that shows the two different tensioners and I think it even tells you what size wrench to use.
Just need to relieve tension on belts, slip it off to check pulleys and put it back on. Very easy, all with one wrench. You can be done in less than 5 mins.

Thanks again for everyone who contributed to this thread, it was extremely helpful today!

I found the Gates K060721 SC belt for $24.60 shipped from RockAuto.com. Anyone find a better price for Gates?

Gee, Aaron, that's about what they run.

The only thing I'd think about would be using the Dayco PolyCog (available Advance Auto) or the Goodyear GatorBack. Gates belt is 100% fine, probably the quietest. The Daycos whine (they do not squeal, there is a difference) but it is not obnoxious - matter of fact it's hard to tell they are whining if the hood is closed and they are less prone to slip under load although I imagine they slip (instead of snap) if they get a shock load. There is also a Gold Label version of the Polycog that is a bit beefier. Anyway... the GatorBacks don't whine the same as the Daycos but are not silent either I am told. FWIW I run the Dayco PolyCog, put them on 4/2007, 164,000 mi. I have had a pulley seize and shatter (idler on the accessory belt, 12/2007, 175000 mi) but it did not hurt the belt at all - just a light scuff. I am *still* running the exact same Polycog belts that I installed 4/07, it's been some 40,000 miles.

Albertj

UPDATE - in 7/2011 I replaced the Polycogs with Gatorbacks at ~240,000 miles - they were cracking up on the face - and while checking something else I misthreaded one and it partly shredded (not dayco's fault).

Could anybody confirm the part number for the larger (3.5") supercharger idler pulley, the one under the bracket? I'm going to use it to take a little slack out of my tensioner.

Thanks
-Derek

Series II


L36
Pos...Part#....OD.......ID.......Wide.....Info
3......89007...76mm...17mm...31mm...flat

L67
Pos...Part#....OD.......ID.......Wide.....Info
9......89006...90mm...17mm...30mm...flat
3......89007...76mm...17mm...31mm...flat
8......89051...76mm...17mm...23mm...6 rib with flange

L67 with 8 Rib SC Pullies
Pos...Part#....OD.......ID.......Wide.....Info
8......89053...76mm...17mm...NA........8 Grooves with flange (3")
8......89057...90mm...17mm...NA........8 Grooves with flangle (Optional 3.5")
3 SC..89016...74mm...17mm...37mm....flat (SC tensioner pulley)
9......89048...90mm...17mm...37mm....flat (Optional 3.5" for pos 3 if SC'd)
3......89007...76mm...17mm...31mm...flat (6 rib accessory belt tensioner pulley)

** All part numbers are from the Dayco.com website.

On my '98 Riv I changed the belts without removing the motor mount - only the spacer. I posted instructions on this editboard a while back.

In a nutshell, what you do is jack the car up and put it on jack stands (important), remove the passenger side front wheel, remove the inner fender (or at least remove the front pins and bend it back out of the way) and then the spacer bolt is kind of staring at you.

Now, with that jack, jack up the engine not to move it but to support it, then remove the spacer bolt (the front most lowest most bolt in the motor mount - the one that is staring at you). wipe things down so you don't get dirt/oil on the new belts. Then go up topside, slip the old belts off the tensioners, being sure to note how they are installed, put the new belts on, reinstall that motor mount bolt and the ferrule it went through, take jack out from under engine, put inner fender back in place, put wheel back on, lower the car off the jackstands.

Albertj
.

However, if you are replacing all the pulleys too (may as well, since you are going to all the work to replace the belts) you WILL need to remove that motor mount in order to replace that lower idler pulley. No way around that. If that pulley has a lot of miles on it, don't put off replacing it. I had another pulley disintegrate and replaced them all, and found that lower pulley was in horrendous shape compared to the others.

I agree with Dave, Do it all at the same time. I recently did all my pulleys and belts at 100k miles and followed the write-up with no problems.
It's good piece of mind and I found that one behind the mount to be ready to fail in my opinion.

I agree. Must pull the mount to get at that lower pulley.

By the way, if you're replacing the pullies definitely don't cheap out on the belts - consider getting Goodyear Gatorbacks or Dayco Polycogs.

Albertj

My preference has always been for Gates belts (or NAPA belts - just rebranded Gates) but Daycos are good too. I'd skip the gatorbacks though. Turning all the ribs into little nubby things can't be good. I saw somewhere a test about belt slip and Gatorbacks came in pretty low on the results. Dayco and Gates were highest.

I am very happy with my Dayco Polycogs. They do whine at high revs but not annoyingly - kind of at a harmonic 3rd or 5th above my supercharger.

Albertj

There is also the small possibility of using the dealer to get a quote. I did that once and they quoted me less than an hour's labor plus the cost of the pulley = $75 out the door. They overlooked the challenge of navigating around the engine mount bracket. I just had them do the work and gladly paid for it.

Thank you guys. I just did my belts - The engineer who designed that motor mount should be hung from a certain part of his anatomy