Serpentine belt and tensioner

[Robert Caffyn]

Hey everybody, need a little help. Since I put in the tranny tune from Torrie, I've got a squeak on the 1-2 shift and the 2-3 shift. Its definately the belt and I heard about replacing it with a shorter belt and a new tensioner as well. First, I need a part# and/or manufacturer of this belt. Second, if the belt alone tightens it up, why replace the tensioner? Anybody? BC

 

[EddieS'04]

Bob, the shorter belt is recomended for the gen 1. I havent heard anything about gen 2.

 

[chargedtrac]

Hi Bob.

Do you have many miles on your current belt? When I had Torrie's tune on my ST (before the major power add-on), my shifts were firm and no squeek or squeel. Maybe try the belt replacement first?



I think the stock part # on my XLT stock is NBH 25060860 for a belt at NAPA. The Gatorback number by the chart from the link below would probably be 4060860, the last numbers are the belt length (860 = 86.0"). You can probably go to the next shorter belt if that's what you want to try. Maybe your belt has slightly stretched? Try the belt before replacing the tensioner.



Here is a link to the Goodyear Gatorback site and a chart on belt sizes.

http://www.goodyearep.com/productsdetail.aspx?id=3128



I have had good luck with Gatorback and that is the belt I have on my supercharger now along with an extra belt in the back in case I break the one installed. :banana:



My fear on using a smaller belt and possibly being too tight is its stress on accessory pulley bearings.



Just double check your part #s but that chart may be of some help. Good luck. Let us know how you make out.

Joe

 

[Johnny O]

I had some belt noise on my V6 and found that Ford has a TSB about it to replace the belt and alternator bracket. I don't know if it applies to the V8.

 

[Chris Rice]

Mine has quite a sqeak going right now so on my days off (wed, Thurs) I plan on doing the belt and am hoping to do the TT/Shackle lift on my trac. I did not know about the alternator bracket, guess I might as well do that as well while I'm at it. Thanks for that Johnny. And Joe, are the gatorback belts that much better? Should I go with that when I do. And sorry to hijack the thread Bob!

 

[chargedtrac]

Cottonwood - on Gatorback, I've had real good experience. I can only share that with any certainty. There's probably at least one person out there that might say they weren't impressed with them. I pretty much attack which product to use by doing online research on the product, product warranty, checkout forum discussions on the product, or search on complaints on a product, compare pricing, then make a decision. If my experience is good, I'll use the same product again. As I have a Gen2 V8, and having had Mustang GT's with the same modular V8 I also visit a few Mustang performance forums to do similar checking to give me some sense of performance and reliability if discussed there.



The cause of belt squeals many times isn't the belt. I had a Ranger where it was the tensioner pulley and not the belt, but due to the miles I replaced the belt first. I've at times carefully used a mechanic's stethoscope to help me isolate noises masked by the engine roar to find a pulley bearing noise (alternator), water pump grumbling, etc. Ahhh, the challenges of solving car\truck problems. :banana:

 

[Chris Rice]

Alright, thanks again. I'll check out the gatorbacks. I have a good friend who's much more knowlegable with vehicles than I am, so I'll get his help on checking whatelse might be causing the sounds. Hopefully we get the problem licked this week, I'm tired of hearing it!

 

[chargedtrac]

Hi Bob -

I was thinking, on your tranny tune, do you think that the shift firmness might be a little too firm? Maybe with all things being equal, if it didn't squeal before the tune would it be worth it to see if Torrie would be willing to back down the shift firmness a notch. I couldn't tell from your original post if the noise you are hearing on the shift points happens all the time during normal driving or does it just happen when you get on the accelerator real hard? Sorry if I'm taking up too much bandwidth here for what you were asking. Best of luck resolving.

 

[kevinbakon]

Bob,

I had the same issues after getting Torrie's tranny tune.

I emailed Torrie with some datalogs capturing the noise and he was able to eliminate it.

Here is the thread I posted at the time: