Serpentine Belt Replace on 3rd Generation

[Alan Reagan]

Don't wait on your belt to wear and break before you replace it on the 3rd generation trucks.



I was due to replace mine, picked one up and three hours later, finally got it on the truck. I'm just glad it wasn't cold and raining.



First, getting the 1/2 inch drive into the tensioner is a lot of fun. From the bottom, it is between the fan and block and you can't see the drive hole.



Then getting the old belt off of the tensioner is almost as much fun. There is a space between the pulley and block that is just the width of the the belt thickness. Make sure you get it on correctly or you get to do it twice (don't ask me how I know).



Then, you will need a thin pull bar to finally get the tensioner to release enough to get the belt under the water pump. The fan shroud and fan precluded the use of my normal pipe pull bar. You need two people to do the final install. One under the truck doing the tension relief and one topside to slip the belt under the water pump pulley.



Since the weather is rather chilly, the belt was stiff and I played the devil getting it to stay in place on the pulleys until the final placement on the water pump pulley.



Do this as preventive maintenance. You don't want to try it on the side of the road.



I'll tell the story of how I decided to change my U-joints during my next installment.

 

[JCasper]

how many miles were on your truck when you did this



I have 91K now and am planning on changing the belt, radiator hoses, etc when I do a coolant change in the near future.

 

[steved]

how many miles were on your truck when you did this



I have 91K now and am planning on changing the belt, radiator hoses, etc when I do a coolant change in the near future.

I had over 100k on my factory belt before I replaced it and it looked fine (I have it as a spare)... I have 175k on everything else.



Will probably flush coolant and change hoses this spring.

 

[HOBrian]

I have 91K now and am planning on changing the belt, radiator hoses, etc when I do a coolant change in the near future.

I plan on the same thing... the near WARMER future:-laf I have 100,400 mile now so I hope it will last. Of course now that I said that I screwed

 

[JCasper]

I plan on the same thing... the near WARMER future:-laf

exactly, unless something breaks now it will wait till spring

 

[Alan Reagan]

I had 115K on the truck.



The front edge of the belt shredded one line off. I cranked it up and heard a funny sound, checked and found the problem.



I had gone and looked at the last of the 08 trucks, the dealers didn't want to deal so I'm keeping my baby. She's in good shape. Just needed some preventive maintenance.



New belt, shocks, u-joints. I'm going to pick up the lift pump this week, change it and keep my old one as a spare.

 

[DE Jeeper]

While the belt is off check the waterpump. Mine was so loose the impeller was rubbing the block. Most factory ones do not have weap holes.



Aaron

 

[HOBrian]

Good call, might not be a bad idea to replace while I am at it!!

 

[Wiredawg]

Guess it's time to check my wifes... 109K miles.



Wiredawg

 

[Grizzly]

Thanks for the good advice Alan.

 

[Alan Reagan]

No problem. One last thing..... I always check the belt for wear when I do oil and filter changes. The belt wasn't cracked or split. So far, I've driven 500 miles with the new belt and all appears good on the replacement. I guess it was time for it to go.

 

[EBung]

There is a bolt that runs through the center of the tensioner you loosen a little and gain plenty of room to remove the belt. I cant imagine removing the belt without doing that.

 

[mikeshauling]

Man its been too cold to replace mine, its been squeeking and squalling for a few weeks now. I have tried several things to stop it. The squeek comes right back in a few seconds.

 

[WoodChuck]

You guys are doing it all wrong.

It's really easy if you don't follow the service manual directions, flip the belt over the A/C pulley last while your pulling on the tensioner release wrench. One man job and you don't need to squeeze the belt behide the tensioner wheel.

On a cold motor I can take off my old one and put a new one on in maybe 10 min. I think we should make this an event at May Madness.

 

[Radshooter]

Now y'all got me thinking. I know..... that is dangerous... I have a Jacob Exhaust brake. I have been told that if the pump ever goes out, I could bypass it with the belt and fix it later. Now I am thinking I need to carry 2 spare belts of different lengths??? One to include the pump, and one to bypass the pump??? I only have 36k on the belt, but it is 5 years old. Maybe I need to be looking at this???

Thanks... ... Steve

 

[fkovalski]

I have 59,xxx miles on mine and am planning a 2K mile trip next week. Do you think I need to replace mine? Been reading other threads and it seems folks are going a lot longer than the millage I have before replacing.

 

[WCounts]

When replacing the belt it's a good idea to replace the tensioner wheel too.

Billy

 

[deeselfitter]

colegate

To alleviate the squealing on any belt i always use a bit of colegate toothpaste.....the grit in it takes the glaze off

Man its been too cold to replace mine, its been squeeking and squalling for a few weeks now. I have tried several things to stop it. The squeek comes right back in a few seconds.

 

[CKESSEL]

I replaced my pump, belt, hoses and tensioner as pm at around 130k on mine. When you take the lower hose off, and the fender liner is out, the access to the tensioner for replacement is awesome. When the tensioner is off, get the belt looped around the damper, then put the tensioner on. No hassle with trying to loop it in correctly between the damper and tensioner pulley since the clearance is much better.

 

[Chris2500]

I just replaced my squeaky belt, getting it around the tensioner was a PITA. the trick i used to make it a one man job was a ratchet strap on my wrench to a metal bracket on my bumper to hold tension while I alligned the belt and slipped it over the idler pulley finally. I had my K&N filer out for cleaning and 1x 10mil bolt gets the bottom half of the stock airbox out allowing a bunch of room on that side.