wasted wages
1 ton status
Check your crankshaft end play.....if the crank is walking front to back...it will cause the belts to climb the pulley and get thrown..probably why they twist first..
CK5
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throwing the V belts seprentine conversion questions
- Thread starter mwood1985
- Start date
Thats a possibility,but I have seen more than one engine with a LOT of end play,never toss a belt..in fact,on one Ford 390 in a friends '63 T-bird,I think the v-belts were all that kept the crank from floating in and out enough to allow the connecting rods to touch the block...we noticed it would always start to clatter and the oil light would flicker while taking corners...one day we opened the hood with it running when we started hearing a "clink"inside the engine once in a while,and we saw the harmonic balancer walking back and forth a good 1/2"..
..............................................................................................after shutting it off,we could pull and push on it and get it to go in and out about 3/4"...we found the timing gear was grinding against the front cover and the oil pump was clogged with broken valve stem seals when we tore the engine apart...he just opted to put a used engine in it rather than try fixing the original...............................................................................................We got a 1966 Mustan in the junkyard one day,that didn't look all that bad--had a straight six in it,maybe a 240?...when the clutch pedal was pushed in,the engine would let out a horrific screech,then stall..we thought it was the clutch or throwout bearing ,but after watching it with the engine running and the hood open,we could see the balancer come out about 3/4" when you pushed the clutch pedal in!...the crank and the thrust bearing surfaces were completely GONE ,we were very surprised the engine even ran,and never tossed a belt--but if you just let it run in neutral,you'd swear the engine sounded fine!.....we sold it to a guy along with a 351W to install in it for 1500 bucks....
..............................................................................................after shutting it off,we could pull and push on it and get it to go in and out about 3/4"...we found the timing gear was grinding against the front cover and the oil pump was clogged with broken valve stem seals when we tore the engine apart...he just opted to put a used engine in it rather than try fixing the original...............................................................................................We got a 1966 Mustan in the junkyard one day,that didn't look all that bad--had a straight six in it,maybe a 240?...when the clutch pedal was pushed in,the engine would let out a horrific screech,then stall..we thought it was the clutch or throwout bearing ,but after watching it with the engine running and the hood open,we could see the balancer come out about 3/4" when you pushed the clutch pedal in!...the crank and the thrust bearing surfaces were completely GONE ,we were very surprised the engine even ran,and never tossed a belt--but if you just let it run in neutral,you'd swear the engine sounded fine!.....we sold it to a guy along with a 351W to install in it for 1500 bucks....
I was thinking of mocking up alternative belt routings that skip the alt, PS or something. Then buy a belt that length and keep it as a spare. Maybe with the tensioner, a single belt would give the option of skipping either of two different accesories. You're still dependant on the one idler, but a spare pulley with bearing is a small part to carry (many people have replaced one that isn't really "bad" anyway).
And changing a serpenting belt like the TBI/TPI setups in a square nose truck is easy. Removing or replacing a V-belt is harder. Especially if you have the 3-belt setup and you need to pull the innermost belt - 3 accessories must be loosened and then re-tensioned.
Yeah,my altenator belt on the 6.2 is first one closest to the radiator,so its childs play to replace...not so easy with the P/S belt though,the bolts holding the pump on you must loosen SUCK to get at,are way at the bottom near the engine mount,and have a nut welded to the bracket,so if one snaps off your boned,I dont think you could even get a torch near it ,never mind a drill...............................................................................both of those bolts on my 2 diesel trucks are boggerd up pretty bad, and feel like they will snap off too,if I loosen them more than a few turns--I had wanted to remove them,and replace them,lube them with never seize or grease,but dont dare to try taking them all the way out now......................................................................................................what sucks is I stupidly used the P/S and A/C belt to power my fisher plow pump,instead of rigging a belt up to the unused sheave on the water pump on my Suburban,that would make belt changes a lot easier...it had its A/C "deleted",so I figured mounting the plow pump where the A/C compresser was,was the easiest place to put it...it was--but I didn't think about having to take ALL the other belts off to take the plow pump belt on or off at the time---when it was summer and nice out!..gonna suck someday during a blizzard if the belt comes off or busts,it'll likely wipe all the belts off when it does,and suck to fix--especially if that P/S pump bolt breaks...
.....been thinking I shoula used my electric Myers plow pump instead now...already had it and forgot I did,so I bought a valve body and fisher pump from a junkyard that I didn't really need....Uh-DUHHH!..
.....been thinking I shoula used my electric Myers plow pump instead now...already had it and forgot I did,so I bought a valve body and fisher pump from a junkyard that I didn't really need....Uh-DUHHH!..
wasted wages
1 ton status
Another thing to check is the size of the crank pulley..
If you drop the diameter of the crank pulley, the belt speed will drop also..
Larger alternator pulleys will drop the rpm of the alternator....
Think of it as gear ratios....bigger the crank pulley, the faster the accessories spin...
Smaller the crank pulley...the slower they spin.
May not work for your setup, but something to think about...
I highly recommend March pulleys...I run them on a couple of engines with no issues...both v grove and serp....
If you drop the diameter of the crank pulley, the belt speed will drop also..
Larger alternator pulleys will drop the rpm of the alternator....
Think of it as gear ratios....bigger the crank pulley, the faster the accessories spin...
Smaller the crank pulley...the slower they spin.
May not work for your setup, but something to think about...
I highly recommend March pulleys...I run them on a couple of engines with no issues...both v grove and serp....
454Sub
5/8 ton status
On the tossing a belt subject, on my Sub its a pretty easy change, just need a 5/8 socket with a 1/2in drive 12in ratchet, and the new belt. Takes maybe 15min, but i have no mechanical fan, so that can extend the time frame a few min, but overall not that hard. Now i have had mine for 7 years about, and have never once had a tensioner bearing, or any other bearing for that matter fail. Not saying it doesnt happen, because we are all aware it does, just sayin my personal luck with the serp setup. Only problem i ever had was not installing the brace on the PS pump and when the BB would get up in the RPMs it would pull the pump toward the rad and toss the belt. My own fault which i have sense fixed.
Look, I finally got this done:
The pump swaps over, but you need the serpentine reservoir. I found that my Goodwrench engine had 4 accessory-mount holes in the DS head, but only 1 in the PS head. So I drilled another one and tapped it. I went in about 5/8" deep and didn't hit the water jacket. I don't know how deep is possible.
The pump swaps over, but you need the serpentine reservoir. I found that my Goodwrench engine had 4 accessory-mount holes in the DS head, but only 1 in the PS head. So I drilled another one and tapped it. I went in about 5/8" deep and didn't hit the water jacket. I don't know how deep is possible.
4xcrazy
3/4 ton status
Confession..
After working on the truck today, due to a non start issue, I got a good look, and let it sink in, I guess, but anyways, I could have SWORN, that every belt but the ac was a flat/ribbed belt on the '87 model 350 TBI engines. I was wrong, it is only the alternator belt that is the ribbed one, the rest are still v-belts.
So I guess unless there is another model/year out there that uses the flat belts on all accessories, the other option to keep seperate belts for each item would be to do the March pulley conversion, as someone else I believe already brought up.
Ah well...
After working on the truck today, due to a non start issue, I got a good look, and let it sink in, I guess, but anyways, I could have SWORN, that every belt but the ac was a flat/ribbed belt on the '87 model 350 TBI engines. I was wrong, it is only the alternator belt that is the ribbed one, the rest are still v-belts.
So I guess unless there is another model/year out there that uses the flat belts on all accessories, the other option to keep seperate belts for each item would be to do the March pulley conversion, as someone else I believe already brought up.
Ah well...
A little late to the ballgame, but I'd make sure all the pulleys are true (had a crank pulley on an Oldsmobile somehow "go bad" sitting in the driveway overnight, figure that one out) and I'd verify that there is no end play on the water pump. More than once have I heard of the shaft coming loose from the bearing.
I've got what I call the "semi-serpentine" setup off an 80's car, but it's really just the 5-rib flat belt that runs the water pump and alternator off the crank, there is no idler. The rear-most belt (PS) is a bit of a pain to get to, but without AC, you just have to loosen the alternator and you can get the PS belt off.
I've got what I call the "semi-serpentine" setup off an 80's car, but it's really just the 5-rib flat belt that runs the water pump and alternator off the crank, there is no idler. The rear-most belt (PS) is a bit of a pain to get to, but without AC, you just have to loosen the alternator and you can get the PS belt off.
