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I heard a buzzing pulley (my wife had the belt and idler pullery replaced in October when it quit and shredded the belt) so I decided to short belt it.
In preparing, I picked up the new belt (Gatorback) and today set out to install. I intended however to improve on the process. I did not want to remove the wheel nor put knee to ground. I saw no kneed for it (pun intended). I would do the whole job from above.
Remove airbox. Easy. 10 mm box end wrench. Curse when airbox clips drop and fly. Resolve to improve this shitty design too (I hear Velcro calling).
Remove old belt. Put 1/2 inch bar in tensioner. Reef on bar, slip allen key into hole. Nice. Slide old belt off all pulleys, including (and here's the key observation) the crank pulley.
If one can slide the old belt off the main pulley, why then can one not slide the new belt ON? Obviously, it's because the bolts holding the pulley on to the crank extend out and interfere. It's time for "CHEAP AND FUNKY NEW SPECIAL TOOL!!!".
So, when you get new shoes and they're hard to put on, what do you use? A shoe horn. Then in this case, let's make a shoe horn for this application
What I did was to bend a coat hanger (2 45 degree bends) to make a shape that from above, I could slide straight down in front of the engine and slide it straight back past the crank pulley, completely clearing the interfering bolts.
Then, I laminated this with duct tape (you knew that was coming). Then I made one more bend at a 90 degree angle and clamped it to the DI with my vice grips, with the duct tape "tongue" shielding the crank bolts.
Then I duct taped the new belt to 2 yardsticks (metre sticks to the larger world) to hold it fairly vertical and slipped it down along the shoe horn to below the crank pulley. Then I slid the belt under the pulley and pulled up on the yardsticks. Because it was cold, the tape didn't stick very strongly and thus let go easily. From that point it was the same as anybody else, routing the belt around the pulleys and finally releasing the tensioner. A quick turn of the key to verify that it was running true and I finished by installing the airbox and closing the hood.
Another Saab weakness resolved by the fertile brains of the residents of Saabnet - and without kneeling in the snow or removing the wheel.
Cheers and thanks guys,
Paul N.
posted by 216.75.19...
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