firedoug

Replaced my worn factory belt which had nearly 90k on it today. Here are a few tips that might help those getting ready to replace the belt. I bought a Dayco belt from Autozone for 25 bucks, the house brand Duralast is 17 bucks, you can can see a big difference in the quality of the Dayco belts, worth extra money.

1. unwrap belt and let tension it in the sun or warm area for 30 mins to help it lose the packaging kinks. Makes for easier threading on of the belt.

2. Remove the air intake baffel 1 bolt.

3. Take a large 1/2" ratchetr and place drive into tension pulley. Worked best for me to come from drivers side with handle pointing towards drivers side. Push down, clockwise to release tension pulley.

4. Release tension on old belt, and remove.

5. I started threading from the A/C compressor around follow the fan shroud diagram. Had belt on all pulleys except the alternator.

6. Used a breaker bar to push down on the end of the ratchet to give a better angle to release tension on pulley and then popped the belt over the alternator pulley.

It is a bit tight working in the area between the fan and the front of the engine... recommend a cool engine and long sleeve shirt. Not enough room to use the breaker bar on my ratchet like normal but put the pipe on the end of the ratchet pointing straight up and pushed down. Made a big difference, I could not get a good enough grip with my hand down between the fan and the engine to release the tension pulley.

Some say this is an easy job, I agree it is not hard but I did my wife's 2007 Tahoe the same day and that took me all of 3 mins to replace, where the 2008 F150 5.4 took about 30 mins. All due to the confined space your working in.

Best Regards
Doug

Sellis03

Did you have to remove the fan shroud?

Craig4937

No, you don't have to remove the fan shroud. BUT, you better have gloves and a long sleeve shirt or you'll be a bloody mess. (that fan shroud is sharp!)

'08f150stx

If you don't go to the Ford dealership, go to a NAPA store. I have always had good success with parts from there.

Sellis03

Thanks I thought I was going to have to remove it. I am going to change it Saturday, I ended up getting a Gates belt from O'Reilly's.

Sellis03

That was pretty easy, took about 45 min. It still has a slight squeal on gear shift, but it is barely noticeable and only does it when I get on it. I checked on a new tension pulley assembly, but I am not for sure that will fix it, so I did not get it.

ericlolley

My 07 is starting to squeal, so Im gonna attempt to change it out. Hopefully its just the belt and nothing else.

Rick's 06

Someone mentioned they replaced their tensioner and idler pulleys as well as the belt. Just wondering if this is common practice and if there's some lubrication we should do to them to extend their life. Thoughts?

ericlolley

I just replaced the belt and the squeal stopped so I'm not sure and the pulleys...

Mtnrider

My 2004 was making noises and it was the alternator,changed that and the belt now seems one of the tensioner's is at it...Cant complain 116,000 mile on her...