So, I'm going to attempt to change the belt myself. The truck has about 90K miles and it's starting to squeak about 65-70% of the time when I turn it on.

I went to the auto parts store and bought a MasterPro belt. I haven't done this before but it seems fairly straight forward. There are just a couple of things I would like to know going in.

1. Is there any kind of prep I should do to the new belt before I install it? Spray it with anything?

2. I see the little tension pulley down there. There are two bolts on it. I think I know which one to loosen but before I do I'd like to know to restore tension to the new belt once it's on. Will tightening the bolt up in itself put the required tension back on the pulley or do I need to get in there and somehow push the pulley back into place while I torque the bolt down.

3. Is there anything else I should know that I'm missing?

Thanks

 

All you should need to do is put a breaker bar in the tensioner and move the actual tension pulley and slip the belt off. No need to loosen any bolts. If I am not mistaken. It's been a while since I changed mine.

 

Yes, you do not loosen anything. You take the tension off the tensioner, remove the old belt, install the new belt, and release the tensioner. That is it! Do not put anything on the belt. Don't know much about the belt you got...Goodyear Gatorback's are pretty popular, dependable belts.

 

Look at the side of the tensioner and you should see a square hole. Either a 1/2" or 3/8" (can't recall which one) drive breaker bar (or a long socket wrench) will snap right in there. Use the tool to move the tensioner so the belt goes slack. Remove belt. No need to remove any bolts.

 

About the only thing I can add is wear long sleeves and mechanics gloves if you have them. There is almost no room between the fan shroud and the belt so getting your hands in there can be painful. I lost a lot of skin when I did mine.

While I have the belt off I always like to give everything (alternator, tensioner etc.) a spin with my hand to see if anything is on the way out.

Good luck.

 

efans FTW

 

Just did mine,

1/2" drive hole in the tensioner.

I used a breaker bar with a short piece of pipe for a little extra leverage.

Getting the new belt oriented was tricky from up top, I had better luck getting under the truck and getting the new belt looped correctly.

I used a Gates/Dayco belt - very pleased so far. Old belt was fair, put it in the toolbox that stays in the truck. Never now when you or another broke down F150 might need a spare...

 

how much theses belts cost?

 

30 bucks give or take....go to tousleyfordparts.com get a real fomoco one for 10 percent over cost...believe me you wont regret it. My father went through 3 different brands due to squeeling and drying out...flip the belt around and it'd go away for a few weeks..

 

Ok thats not bad my truck makes a loud squal when you start it up only for the first minute or so i dont think its the belt i think its the idler pulley can i just buy a new pulley, im gunna replace the belt why iam in there

 

A Goodyear Gatorback is the best belt for these trucks. That's the standard fix for people who get belt squeal on WOT shifts.

 

Thanks for all the help. I got the belt replaced and it was still making a racket... turned out to be the idler pulley. But I caught it in time, so nothing else needed to be replaced.

 

This is the easiest way of doing I've seen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0DIl1f073s

Unfortunatly not for our trucks though...

 

ditto.. changing the belt is easy.. but u cut up your arms pretty good because of the fan..

 

First, thanks for all the helpful comments regarding changing a serpentine belt, it gave me confidence to do it myself. Here's what I can offer from my experience:

Overall, pretty easy. Just take some time to think about what you're going to do first.

* I used a 1/2" torque wrench on the tensioner (20" length)
* I uncoupled the air filter tubing, but it was probably unnecessary
* Taking off the old belt was easy by myself, just take the tension off the tensioner and pull the belt off the top pully (from the front of the truck, move your socket bar/torque wrench to the right (clockwise). Unwind the rest of the belt from the pulleys
* My last move in removing was to pull the belt through the gap that's just above the tensioner.
* As many people have said: just reverse the process. So, the first move was to squish the new belt and push the end through the gap above the tensioner (kinduv a Northeast to Southwest angle)
* Route it per the diagram on the truck, or the diagram on the package if it's there (it was on the gatorback package)
* I was able to route everything from the top of the engine compartment. I looped the belt around the pulleys by pushing and shifting the belt as needed. I did scratch up my forearms a bit, but no broken skin.
* Last, I needed to loop the belt on top of the top pulley. For this, I looped the OLD belt around my torque wrench and had my girlfriend pull the OLD belt and keep the tension on as she stood on the right side (driver side) of the truck. This let me work without worrying about the tensioner.
* To get the belt over the last pulley, I sort of pushed the belt at the pulley at about the 2pm position while rolling the pulley counter-clockwise. After a couple of attempts I was able to roll it on. No tools required.
* Checked that everything was aligned a couple of times and that was it.

Used a Gatorback belt on my 2000 F150 5.4L engine (with A/C). Picture attached.

BIG plus: no more squeakiness when the engine runs. The engine sounds VERY good!

https://picasaweb.google.com/1123229...eat=directlink