Serpantine replacement-another poor Ford choice..

[BajaXplorer]

I'm getting ready to go on a trip this week, thus the reason for replacing all the vital fluids as well as belts etc. I bought the Explore on the 6th and have changed all the fluids and belt now.

This was another maintenence item that on most vehicles is a 10-15 min job.
I first found out that I needed a 3/8 ratchet that would allow the tensioner to move enough to relase the belt. OK well not long enough so off to Sears to get a 1/2 drive to 3/8 drive adapter. mount that on a 14" breaker bar for leverage. OK now the fan shroud is in the way. OK loosen and move slightly. Take off airtube(thats also, you guessed it, in the way).
I get the old belt off, cracked quite a bit after 48K miles.
put in back for a spare. OK get the new belt all layed out on pulleys and cant get tesnsior loose enough.

Upper radiator hose and A/C line in the way. Take off upper A/C hose and spill 1/4 of fluid.
OK can get the tensioner loose but air filter box in the way.

Finally get it on- 1 hour of heaving and huffing. I should of loosened the alternator but didnt. Not quite the easiest thing and NOT a 10 minute job!

on a scale of 1-10 I give this a 7 on a PITA scale. I've been doing belts a long time and this was quite a bear, just becasue of the removal of half the left side of the engine bay.

IN Comparasion, my 94 Jeep Grand Cherokee with V8, took 5 minutes to change out


have fun
my .03

Doug

 

[BislamJoe]

Wow. I didn't know it was such a PITA on the second-generation trucks. Mine took me a while the first time I did it. I was trying to use a ratchet with like a 8-inch handle. Even with 2 people, a pain. Later, I found my dad's breaker bar (i think that's the term... it's like a 2-foot-long arm with a 1/2" square to mount a socket on the end). With that tool, it takes like 5 minutes or less. I just take off the plastic air duct (right word?). On my truck it's the part that has the "caution fan" warning molded in over the top. Anyway, I take that off, slip the breaker bar and 3/8" socket, give it a good pull to loosen it. I pull the belt off, still holding the bar open with one hand, ease off on the tensioner, letting it relax all the way (i usually detach the bar right then), then I route the new belt around and hold it taught with one hand while i give the tensioner another good yank, then slip the belt under, release the bar, remount the air duct, put up my tools, close the hood, and drive away.

 

[Robert]

My '97 SOHC was a 10 minute job. Just used one of those needle type 1/2" torque wrench with the 1/2 - 3/8 adapter. It was littleraly just a matter of getting it into the hole, apply enough pressure to slip the belt off, walk over to my work bench, return with the new one, fit the new belt on, apply enough tension to the torque qrench again, and finally slip new belt over last pully. I remember thinking that it was the smarter desings that Ford has come up with.

 

[Keith]

I changed mine on my 97 OHV took me about 20 min. I had to remove the air tube (2 min) but that was about it.

 

[Jim F]

Haven't replaced the one on the Explorer, but I did replace the two multi-V belts on my 87 Mazda 626 this last Sunday. It took me over 3 1/2 hours to complete the job. No it does not have a spring tensioner. I replaced the one on my 94 Chevy Cavalier a while back and I swear it took me all of about 1 min. Yes thats right 60 secs. Front wheel drive and a spring tensioner, I was amazed at how fast it went. It went so fast that I took the new one off again thinking I had missed something.

 

[jimbo74]

mine took like 5 minutes... actually i routed it and my neighbor put the ratchet in and turned it on..... he did all the work.....i was trying for like .5 hour and still couldnt do it....

 

[JWood]

Another poor Ford design

Hey Doug;

Sounds like you had quite an ordeal. Well, here's one for you. Just try and replace a Tail Lamp on a 98 Ford Mustang. You would think it would be a 10 minute job but NO!!!

First the interior trunk trim has to be removed, all of it, just to get to 4 little nuts which hold the lense in place. Thats right, the whole 3 segment lense, tail light assembly has to come out. But you also need Deep Set Metric Sockets to remove the nuts, once you can reach them. And if you drop one, well it's gone for good, down the inside of the fender.

Anyway a lot of work to replace a $2 bulb.

 

[BislamJoe]

Hey Jim - Yeah, I had trouble using a normal ratchet, even with 2 people. But once I tried that breaker bar, man, I could do it myself in 5 minutes!

 

[DarkMan]

I've done my serp belt a good half dozen times on my '94. I thought I had a sqeal in my idle pulley, so I replaced the baring, still squealed, replaced the pulley, got the wrong pulley and tore up the belt, replaced it again, and still haven't found the squeal. (I think it could be the PS pump.)

Anyway, I did mine in the parking lot of Albertson's once, because the bad pulley shreaded the belt.

I've never had any trouble with it, less than five minutes. Jerk the air intake "tube", as you call it, so I can line up the belt all the way around from the top. Everything else is done from below. Laying on my back I can turn the tentioner with one hand. I've got a 3/8 rachet with a 12" handle that works like a dream.

Sorry to hear you had such a hard time.

 

[Dolphan]

Lay Low

I also found lying underneath was the better way to go, especially by yourself - you can hold the tensioner and adjust the belt. I'm smarter now after doing it once - but it took 20 min.