ram van question

[Jim Brone]

I've got another one for you car guys again. You're all bat'n 100 so far with my questions.....

Is there a way for me to increase the tension on my serpentine belt other than buying and replacing the tensioner? Is there a way to maybe tighten up the alternator or something like that? It's a 99 Ram Van 1500-5.9 Thanks!

Jim N

 

[Steve Rizza]

May be a worn out spring, or the tensioner could simply be sticking. I've had to free mine up with WD-40 to stop the belt from squeeling. Remove the belt, and work the tensioner through it's range while spraying in behind it.





Steve

 

[Jim Brone]

Well I'm a little scared to remove the belt. You think I might be able to get it done without having to actually take the belt off?

 

[Steve Rizza]

No for two reasons. You don't want to spray lube onto the belt. And with the belt on it won't allow you to move the pulley arm through it's full range of motion.



You don't need to completely remove the belt, just remove it from the idler. Just put a socket and ratchet on the bolt in the center of your idler. By trying to turn the bolt it will take the tension off of the belt, then you can drop it off of the pulley and out of the way.



You can then spray some lube in behind it as you work the tensioner arm back and forth through it's range to loosen it up. Just remember to wipe off any lube that gets sprayed onto the pulley to keep it from being slung off onto your belt.



When I did the one on my Dodge, after I removed the belt, the tensioner just stayed where it was at because it was stuck so bad. It took alot of working it, and lube to get it freed up.



It's actually a very simple job, only takes a few minutes to do.





Steve

 

[KEVIN WERHAN]

First of all, why are you wanting to tighten the belt, is it squealing? I have to assume that it is squealing, so lets start there. If the tensioner is not sticking, check the belt. Are there a lot of cracks on the belt? If so, replace it. While doing that, check the grooves on all of the pulleys for any kind of debris and clean them out with a wire brush and brake parts cleaner. If you

still are getting a noise from the belt, check for proper pulley alignment on all pulleys. If you

are still getting noise, has anyone done any work to the truck recently. Could they have left something loose, allowing the belt to loosen up or not ride correctly on the pulleys.

 

[Jim Brone]

Yeah, had a water pump installed recently. New belt, with squealing.