my 97 keeps chewing up the backside of the belts. when i start hearing a tick i know i have to reset the belt on the pullies. the culprit is the a/c compressor because the belt is always
pushed of the pulley one row to the back of the pulley next to the compressor. i went and
bought a no a/c belt to try hope it works.

 

when my ac compressor locked up and blew the belt off I bought a non ac belt, it will fit with the ac compressor still on the truck. There should be a diagram of how to run it if you don't have it I'll post a pic of it up on here

 

you need to do an alignment and get that corrected

while ya got yer belt off check the waterpump bearings and also the tensioner sheave....wiggle em and there should only be .004-.005 play................straightedge or stringline will work well

 

i guess the big question for me is how do they become misaligned? i did notice my tensioner was bouncing around but i didnt know if that was from the chunks of belt missing on the outer groove. thanks for the advice

 

Here's my belt @ 48,000 miles may want to check yours out

Tools Required :
1/2 Inch Drive Ratchet & an 1/2 to 3/8 reducer

Parts Required :
Here's the Gatorback belt $33.50 at AutoZone; this part Number is for Models with A/C
This Belt is said to Remove the chirp at Shutdown

Here's the big difference in the belts

Now to change them out
Here's a top view of the Tensioner

Here's a bottom View of the Tensioner The arrow is pointing to the 3/8 inch Square Hole where you insert the 3/8 adapter
(Something Like the Stock Oil Drain Plugs)

Here's the 3/8 inch adapter in the hole.
Now you see why the adapter is needed , an extension is to long and you wont be able to turn it very well , And the 1/2 inch drive ratchet is a must for leverage.

Shove it towards the drivers side and pop the belt off the bottom pulley

When you have the belt off the bottom pulley slowly let off on the tensioner and the ratchet will rest against the frame rail and stop it from flopping up where you cant get to it .
Remove the belt You'll have to push the tensioner back over a little to get the belt around the ratchet and you'll have to loop the belt around the fan blades to be able to get the belt off the truck.

Once thats done heres the new belt routing diagram
To do this by your self you'll need to put it on like so...

First get the belt around the fan blades and past your ratchet thats holding the tensioner from moving any further
Then route the belt around all pulleys, but the bottom one (6).... You will have a loop of belt waiting to go on pulley # 6
Crank the tensioner with your right hand all the way the furthest you can then with your left hand grab the loop and pull it over Pulley #6
before you release the tensioner look at the pulleys and make sure the belt is centered on all of them then release the tensioner and check from the top.
If all looks good Start the truck up.

 

I had same problem. Belt after expensive belt. Turns out the Idler was tweaked and moving the belt back. I changed the tensioner/idler and have not had a problem since.

 

I chewed up a few belts on my 1st gen. After the last belt chewed up the CPS wiring at 2am in the middle of nowhere on a 1,400 mile trip, I limped her home and found that the plastic idler pulley was slightly worn to a conical shape that made the belt ride off center enough to slip a rib or two. Instead of buying a new one, I machined one out of aluminum and that solved the problem. I also routed the CPS wiring inside a piece of 5/16" Aluminum tubing so that the belt would never again eat the wires if it came off again.

Not sure if the 2nd gen has the same plastic piece of pulley, but if so...I'd look there also.

 

i replaced belt with a napa non a/c belt and all is well. my tensioner does rattle a little but the belt hasnt jumped out of its grooves. thanks for the excellent help

 

My dads 24 valve had that problem, it was the belt tensioner..i would change that out!

 

my 12 valve did the same thing was the tensioner, replaced it and all was well since.