Anyone had a belt rub the lower radiator hose?

[dyeager535]

Really hard to tell from this pic, but the belt is way too close to the lower hose, and cuts it.

It hits above the hose clamp, so I thought it would self clearance, but apparently the vibration(?) is enough to cause a leak. Didn't get a chance to play with it much before I had to shelve it for awhile, there is a possibility the leak is unrelated I suppose.

Same set of accessories for decades, only change is recently I re-routed the v-belt as previous it was only on the water pump (edit: crank pulley, not water pump) and it seems that wore the bearing out. But it was on the pump only because of this clearance issue. Never ran the belt this way before, as I foresaw the issue, but would rather not have pump failure from belt routing. Obviously same problem, two different pumps.

Off the top of my head the crank and water pump pulleys are off a Monte SS, maybe the alternator pulley too. Power steering pump who knows? They all seem to line up well.

Just can't figure out what SBC application would have been able to run that crank pulley, that close to the water pump, and not have the issue I have. I checked, the Monte uses the same water pump as the K5 (at least according to rockauto) so the hose should be in the same location regardless.

If I cut the "excess" hose back it might clear. Still seems like a weird problem to have to deal with.

Given the chance the leak is related to the hose clamp, is there a "best" clamp under $50 that is a known quantity?

 

[rampage]

For a moment there when I first read the title, I thought I was in the pigpen.

Anyways, that style of hose clamp is prone to leaking where the screw is since it ‘gathers’ material from either side and created a void under the screw. Don’t know if that makes sense or not but maybe someone else has a better way of explaining it. I know some people hate these because they have a hard time installing/removing them, but a better clamp is a constant pressure clamp like this:

 

[dyeager535]

Lol, I can probably see the title thought process.

I know the old style hose clamps kind of suck, there are just so many options out there now. The one shown, do they have a lot of clamping force? I'm familiar with the ones GM used on low pressure stuff, they don't have much tension. Just a bit worried in that location that it wouldn't be enough.

 

[Blue85]

only change is recently I re-routed the v-belt as previous it was only on the water pump and it seems that wore the bearing out. But it was on the pump only because of this clearance issue. Never ran the belt this way before, as I foresaw the issue, but would rather not have pump failure from belt routing. Obviously same problem, two different pump

Can you find diagrams showing your two belt routings (or sketch it)? The exercise may show some vehicle that has that setup. I can't picture what difference it makes since the belt should stay in the plane of the pulley and for the most part the pulley should be closer than the belt. Is the belt loose and flopping around or is the bearing loose? Does a water pump pulley with smaller diameter help?

 

[rampage]

Lol, I can probably see the title thought process.

I know the old style hose clamps kind of suck, there are just so many options out there now. The one shown, do they have a lot of clamping force? I'm familiar with the ones GM used on low pressure stuff, they don't have much tension. Just a bit worried in that location that it wouldn't be enough.

That was just an example from a quick search. But the spec on it says it’s good up to 45 psi, which I believe is 3 times what your hose will be seeing. You can always get one from your local Chevy parts dept for $20.

https://belmetric.com/clamp-full-tab-constant-tension-9mm-50mm/?sku=CTC50BAND12&gad_source=1

 

[dyeager535]

Maybe this will help. Kind of gives an idea of relative pulley size, etc. Not taken for this purpose but about the best I have to show routing.

VID20231107153310.mp4

• dyeager535
• Nov 8, 2023

alternator top position, passenger side, ribbed belt only.

Water pump pulley ribbed/v-belt.

Crank: ribbed/v-belt

Power steering: v-belt

Routing is ribbed belt on crank, water pump, alternator. V-belt is crank, water pump, power steering.

I doubt the power steering pulley is of the same set since it has two grooves but only lines up with the rearmost groove on the crank and water pump pulleys.

For my purposes, here is a reasonable priced constant tension spring clamp that may be correct. https://hcl-clamping.com/products/spring-band-hose-clamp-rotor-43-5-53-0mm-zinc-plated-steel (1.71 - 2.09 diameter)