Belt removal on a 97

[thelandroverguy]

OK, the book say's to turn the tensioner clockwise to release the tension on the belt to remove it. I see a bolt head on the tensioner. I read if I remove the bolt, the tensioner comes off. I don't want to do that. All I want to do is change the belt. (Serpentine) I feel like a fool here. How do you release the the pulley? I does not seem to want to turn clockwise.

[ronward]

Front or back belts? When my rear drivers side belt locked on my 1997 ST I accessed the belt through the rear speaker box. I unbolted the tensioner and got enough slack in the belt to allow me to work on the tensioner. Turns out the belt was frayed on one side a bit and it was causing it to hang up in the tensioner. A few seconds with a lighter and I melted down the stray little fuzz and problem solved.

Moral of the story is: Don't fear removing the tensioner to refit a new belt.

Cheers!!

p.s. I removed and refitted the belts in my 1997 Disco as well with similar success.

[evilfij]

Get a long wrench and with leverage you can move the tensioner away by turing it clockwise (not 100% sure on a D90 but when you look at it you will be able to figure it out).

i wish I could draw a picture.

[ronward]

It's really easier to change the belt with the tensioner unbolted, FWIW.

[BarryO]

The bolt in question is in the middle of the pulley. Put a socket on it, and when you try to turn it the pulley will move and the tension will be released. I used a 2-ft. breaker bar to make this easy. The biggest pain is that the fan tends to get in the way. Take the upper fan shroud off for clearance.

[ronward]

Good God, y'all are discussing the drive belt aren't you! Damn, thought I was being of some help by offering some insight into safety belt removal. perhaps i'll go back into LURK mode now..

[Mike Hippert]

LOL, Ron maybe we should start a thread "How to change your Seat Belts!" And you can reply. then it will be there for reference .:)

[ronward]

LOL I was serious!! I just went through a seat belt swap!!! Funny stuff!!

[evilfij]

Thats ok, I was wondering how you got the tensioner back on after you put the new belt on. I was thinking, man, he is saying it is easier but I don't see how :)

[KeithElisa]

I just changed the belt on my 97 SW
It was a pane in the A$$. I ended up putting a strap around the tensioning bar and ran it down to the floor. Then I put a 2x6 on the other end and stood on the board to pull the arm down with my body weight. Sounds bad but it worked...

Keith,

[hlamar]

Just took off my serp belt on my '97 NAS D90 again (second time) to replace my alternator (original finally was losing amps). Anyway, here are some key steps to make it easy:

1) take a picture or draw a diagram of how your serp belt flows BEFORE taking it off -- there are diagrams out there on the net, but last time it took me a while to find one after the fact

2) remove the fan shroud (easy, just two pop up clips and wiggle/pull and it pops off)

3) 1/2" drive with nice long handle or a piece of steel or lead pipe to slide over handle for torque (tensioner is hard to move) -- without some handle length for torque, you are asking to slip and rip some knuckles

4) 1/2" to 3/8" drive adaptor so you can fit the 15mm socket on your 1/2" drive (guess you could skip this part if you have a nice heavy duty long 3/8" drive handle

5) add a ~3" extension to your drive setup and you are at just about the ideal distance where you can slide just between the fan blades to turn that bolt

6) as someone mentioned earlier, be SURE to put the socket on bolt on the PULLEY, NOT on the bolt that attaches the tensioner itself

7) even with a nice long handle, you will be surprised how hard you have to turn to get the pulley to move -- again, turn CLOCKWISE and the pulley will rotate downward/slightly clockwise with you -- then you can take your other hand and slip the belt off easily and let the tensioner return to its original position

Have fun!

Heston