Changing a Fan Belt

C

chesapeake bill

Member
My water pump had to be replaced so got a new one and a fan belt. I moved the Radiator forward to remove and replace it. Now I can't get the belt around the bottom pulley (crankcase pulley) there seems to be something under the pulley that is keeping the belt from sliding on. Any ideas how to get this belt on? Is there something like a guard or bolt below the pulley? Need help on getting this thing back together. Thanks
 
The only bolts that I have on mine are the big 3/4" bolt that loosens to allow you to
lift the generator/alternator up to place the belt on the pulley and the 9/16" bolt that
holds the strap that butts against the generator to help prevent movement. Not all
cars come equipped with the strap, JMHO.

Jack
 
You can take a two by four under the oil pan and a small jack and lift the engine a bit. It won't take much ,just go slow and don't over do it on the jack.
 
Mine is a little tight going around the crank pulley but not so tight that - with a small amount of liquid dishwashing soap; emphasis on 'small' - it can't be pulled into place.
The force necessary to do this isn't so much that I've seen spots in front of my eyes but it has taken a bit to pull it on the pulley. Feed it over the fan and, before running it over the water pump pulley, position it as far in on the bottom of the crank pulley as you can get it (with the soap in place) and pull it onto the pulley. You can wipe the soap off if you want, but I've never bothered and it hasn't caused a problem.
 
Slip the belt over the generator pulley LAST.
It has the least angle of belt contact and therefore takes the least effort to install.
 
some belts are pretty small. After you get the belt past the motor mount down by the engine pulley you might find it a struggle to slip the belt over the generator pulley even with the generator all the way up against the block. If so, remove the generator pulley by removing the retainer bolt, pop the pulley off the shaft, slip the pulley on to the belt, then re attach the pulley to the generator with the belt threaded on. Easy as pie.
 
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If you are jacking the front of the engine loosen the rear mount bolts, ( i would remove one on each side) you don't want to crack a mount. Belts can be replaced without jacking the engine.
 
If the belt will not go under the pulley might be a good idea to loosen the rear bolts as suggested, I don't think you should need to remove them as you should only need to bring the front up a little. It would be a good time to set the float on the front engine mount and check the springs for same. The should be a leather pad that fits the bolt between the flange on the engine front mount and the front cross member. Nether the leather pad or the flange sits on the cross member they float just above it. After that is set the bolts in the rear mount can be tighten back down. You should be able to get the belt under the crankshaft pulley after that.
 
I ran into the same issue just recently. What the belt is catching on is the bolt head on the motor mount. The mount on my car is a reproduction mount that doesn't have the same indented "jog" in the center like the originals have. The reproduction mounts are flat right across & don't allow for that very small amount of clearance for the belt. My crank pulley was actually rubbing the bolt head by a very small amount but enough to score the bolt head.

What I did was just load the belt onto the bottom inside edge of the pulley by twisting the belt just enough to get it to clear the mount bolt. Do that before positioning the belt on the water pump shaft & generator pulley & you should be ok. Good luck!
 
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