Belt change...

Just did my first belt change over the weekend. What a blast! (forgive the dirty engine pics, these were prior to alot of cleaning) Thanks to Birdman and Verell for their writeups here on fchat. Couldn't have done it without them. I will say, the bottom nut on the top a/c bracket is a b*%$!! Nothing like self locking nuts with 575,000 threads and one inch of wrench clearance!
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If you would like some more practice...............

 

Doing the belts was no big deal really. I replaced the tensioner bearings as well and did most of my fuel lines. Took most of the weekend but really wasn't too bad. Birdman's belt tutorial was right on. Like I said, the only real pain in the whole thing was the upper a/c bracket as there just isn't any room to put your hands or turn a wrench. After lots of cursing and several beers I had lost some of the feeling in my hands and it wasn't as bad!

 

When I did the 308 belts, I found that I was able to get one of those ratching box wrenches on it, so even though I couldn't move it far, I was just ratching it back and forth. It worked putting the nut back on too.

 

My favorite part about working with that nut was that I had mounted the compressor back to the bracket before putting the a/c belt back on. That meant I had to loosen it again to drop the compressor enough to put the belt on. It was bad enough having to do once, but twice was terrible! Won't make that mistake again next time.

 

HI
is there someone on this board sells the upgrade to a chain drive on 308
instead of the belts

I have to do the belts myself, just wandering,is this possible
thanks
f

 

Don,

I just finished my belts and t-bearings too! I did Verell's method of setting the belt tension. But after, while I was hand rotating the engine clockwise, I notice slight slacking/tensioning of the belts. Are they suppose to do this or should all sections between the pulleys be almost "music tuned" all the time?

Bob

 

I believe the tension changes. Mine stayed pretty solid though. Never got too slack after setting tension though.

 

Yes Don,
Mine does not change much on the slack. I just did not know what the expectation is on having the same tightness through the whole rotation cycle. It sounds like the tension variation is "normal" (gulp!).


Bob

 

Nice work Don, feel like changing the belts in my 348 by any chance?