rojizostang

2013 F150 5.0l Roush tvs 2300 w/75mm pulley

So this truck has a history of eating blower belts. There were no problems until I installed a Ati superdamper. When that was installed, it regularly started eating belts starting with the rib closest to the timing chain cover. On this vehicle, the blower belt is closest to the cover and the water pump/alternator belt is further away from the timing chain cover.

After removing the ati superdamper, the problem went away, and I've been running the same gates belt (82.2" length) for more than a year. After the recent pulley swap, 80mm to 75mm, everything was fine, even after numerous dyno pulls while tuning the truck.

Today, I put the hammer down and lit the tires up a little, and right as it was shifting second to third, it threw the blower belt, which wiped out the alternator belt. There were no previous signs of damage, and it wasn't eating the ribs like on previous belts. We re-used the same belt after the pulley swap, as their is only about .6" difference in circumference between the two pulleys. I measured the take off blower belt and it's 82.5 inches stretched out on the ground, so apparently it stretched about .3". So, if you add the .3 inches of stretch, plus .6 difference in circumference, it totals .925", at least in theory.

So here's the question, is this .925" potential difference in correct belt size enough to cause it to throw the belt off, or should I be looking for some other problem?

This truck has the pulley upgrade already that Roush supplied when there was a problem with the original Roush bracket/tensioner.

The new belt is 82" long and seems to be working ok, but I'm not sure I trust it for a out of town trip. I'm thinking maybe I should have gone with a 81.75" belt perhaps.

Any insight or information is much appreciated.

One Slow 5.0

If its throwing the belt on shifts check the belt tensioner. The spring may be getting weak. Use a belt alignment laser to check pulley alignment.

rojizostang

It certainly seemed to have sufficient resistance when I put the new belt on. I'll have to look for a laser.

I just ordered a Gates RPM belt. They're made for high revving high horsepower motors. It's possible the water pump/alternator belt failed and knocked the blower belt off I suppose. I don't really know what happened first, but the alternator belt is totally disintegrated.

One Slow 5.0

I have a laser kit but i wont be back in town till next weekend

BadAV

It's very likely one of the items you suspect. It's hard to guess which one. Since you commented the tensioner seemed good when installing the new belt, I'm going to hazard my guess as a too-long belt that's stretching just enough at high rpms/load to allow it to come off a pulley.

rojizostang

I appreciate the offer, and I might take you up on that

I just ordered the other belt also (the gates rpm belt). The gates rpm belt that I ordered for the blower drive is .7" shorter than the original belt.

as it turns out, and I ad forgotten that I did this, I had a bag that I used to carry in this truck when it was my daily with a few tools in it. I had left an extra water pump/alternator belt in the bag along with a 1/2" ratchet and 15mm or 18mm socket( whatever it is) so I could do an emergency repair on the roadside. It'll run fine without the blower belt, it just needs the other belt only to keep it from overheating and to charge the battery, and it's very easy to install. It left me on the side of the road once before and I had it towed, but I was close enough to home to drive this time....only about a mile.

One Slow 5.0

Did you get this fixed?

UNBROKEN

iTrader: (1)

PerryB

I'd be willing to wager the problem lies with the damper. It's not going on far enough and the crank pulley doesn't line up.

rojizostang

I have all the belts back on it, whether or not the problem is going to persist....I don't know. I don't have the rpm belt on there yet.

I'm not aware of a way to set the tensioner. At least on the Roush tensioner, you move it enough to install the belt, and that's it. There's no adjustment.

I don't think so. It's fairly easy to see the alignment, and nothing appears to be off. That isn't only my opinion, but the guys that have been working on it for me (Maximum Velocity) could see no misalignment either. I think the combination of a stretched belt and a smaller pulley are the main factors, if indeed it was the blower belt that came off first. FWIW, the truck was abused with many dyno pulls during the tuning process. The fact is, I really don't know which belt came off first. Every time the blower belt came apart before was with the ati superdamper installed. The last belt has been on the truck a year with no problems until the pulley swap and dyno tuning.

With the ati superdamper it was obvious there was a problem, as it would start eating up the rib closest to the timing chain cover within a few days. With the stock damper, this hasn't happened. This slightest misalignment with the superdamper was exacerbated by the fact the it has a completely square shoulder next to where the belts ride on the pulley, where the stock damper has a beveled or chamfered edge that doesn't rub against the edge of the belt and will actually accommodate a very slight misalignment, if that makes sense.

Edit: Here's something I forgot to mention earlier about the ati superdamper. I bought this superdamper directly from ATI on their ebay site, however it was listed as a blemished part. I could never figure out what the blemish was. I always thought it was something with labeling or whatever. Perhaps the blemish is that there was something wrong from the manufacturing process itself. When I talked directly to ATI they just laughed it off like nothing could possibly be wrong with one of their parts. I eventually sold it (for cheap) to a member on another forum that wanted to use it on his n/a coyote mustang.