How do you replace dodge belt tensioner?

Answer 1

Well the original belt tensioner and shive on the motor are junk. As the vehicle gets older and the windshield washer drip pan springs a leak, your belt will fall off. Which sucks. If it gets wet from driving in water or snow it will fall off. The reason why is both of the pulleys are smooth and made out of metal, which when wet, will make the belt slip off. Now the fix is to buy the Gates 38379K belt tensioner kit and replace the pulleys. To take off the belt tensioner requires a 15 mm gear wrench. You have to move the alternator back which you can pivot once you undo the top bolt. And underneath the alternator and on the back side of the engine there is a brace you have to remove so you can fit your fingers back there and replace the nut when you are finished installing the new pulleys. When using the gear wrench you are not going to have a lot of space so it takes a long time to undo that bolt. When replacing the tensioner if you look on the back side of the tensioner there is a little ridge that sticks up and that fits into a groove on the plate that the tensioner goes on. That is what locks the tensioner into place. The belt that comes with the 38379 kit may be too short depending on the year of your van. On a 1992, which is the one that I replaced, I had to go and play pick a belt. The original belt was a KO 60990. When you put the Gates kit on the shives are both a little bit smaller than the original parts. To fix that, you want to go with the Gates KO60975 belt. That removes about an inch and a half which is enough to fit on all of your equipment. The original belt is 99 5/8 inches and the new belt is 98 1/8 inches. Make sure that you keep the number for that belt in case somebody else ever has to change it out so that they don't try to put the original belt on for the year of your vehicle. Believe me, swapping everything out is a bear but after you do it you will not have to deal with your belt falling off again. Total cost is around $260.00 for the parts. And hopefully you don't have to change it when it is five degrees outside!! LOL!