Belt Replacement Drama

[boschbabe]

Warned Daughty not to take this thing any farther than the nearest intersection due to inop cluster and oil pressure issues. But off to Delaware she went (100 miles). It made it there OK but on the return trip a few days later she said that the voltage was below the green range. She made it home and the first thing I checked was my B+ bypass wire which was okay. It wasn't charging because there was no belt! So today I got three new belts and set forth installing them. First, despite having three Bentley and one Haynes manual I couldn't find how to loosen the PS pump so I removed the outer pulley. The next belt was the a/c and water pump which was the sketchiest piece of engineering I've seen yet on this car. The belt only catches a tiny section of the WP, which is the most essential engine-driven component. One of the swivel bolts was broke off and the other swivel bolt hole was cracked. Plus it was missing the slider/adjustment bolt completely! The only thing holding tension was the large allen bolt in the cracked hole which was insanely tight and required removing the alt. The alt swivel allen bolt was boogered when I removed the alt last Summer so I ground a couple flats in it but it needs something better. The star adjuster slips also. To pull tension on the a/c belt I had to put a jack with a piece of wood on it pushing the compressor upwards while I tightened the difficult to get to slider bolt. The whole thing stinks and I'm leaning toward removing the a/c which doesn't work.

[Briano1234]

Been there done that.
The old style of adjuster from the earlier Diesels are better on the adjustments.
It is a barrel bolt affair, that works more better on the a/c.

The newer style of starred adjuster on the thing is a POS design.

I did a how to on it as in tightening the a/c belt.

[boschbabe]

I got a brainstorm to grind the wasted alt swivel bolt into a square and bang an old socket onto it. I was able to tighten it to where the bushing slides and prevents wobble. I now have a Taiwanese 11mm socket sticking out next to the timing belt area. The original allen bolt is insufficient for the amount of torque required. I also ground the remaining teeth off the star wheel so it doesn't interfere with sliding the adjustment. I would like to get a barrel bolt for the compressor so I don't have to jack it to tighten. But next chance I would like to remove the a/c.