Power Steering Belt

[jefe]

How do you get the new belt on?

I am replacing it while doing the timing belt. I have it around the power steering pulley, but when I put it on the crankshaft pulley I can't get the crankshaft pulley onto the crankshaft.

Is there a special tool to do this? Is there a tensioning adjustment somewhere?

EDIT:
I found the bracket to adjust it and loosened the lower bolt, But I CANNOT get the upper (through) bolt. The manual shows using an end wrench, but I can't get one fully on there...

[Monkey123]

jefe,

How did you get the power steering belt out in the first place. Assuming the timing belt is on and the timing covers are installed, put the power steering belt on the crankshaft pulley first. Put the other end of the power steering belt on the power steering pulley. Put in on until you can not go further with the belt. Crank the crankshaft pulley clockwise, this will work the power steering belt into the power steering pulley. Hope this will help.

Monkey123

[jefe]

The through bolt was tough to get to. I used a 1/4" ratchet with a pipe on the end. That let me push the power steering pulley forward. Once I had the belt on, I stuck a crow bar infront of the pulley to pry it backwards and take the slack out of the belt. No way I could fit a torque wrench on the through bolt to torque it to spec though.

[marc780]

Your new power steering belt may simply be too short. It wouldnt be the first time this happened to somebody - you may want to try a belt just a few millimeters longer. Even at the auto parts sometimes they do get it wrong! I have had this happen to me and i just found a belt that did fit at the auto parts.

There is nothing to it really, the only difference to any belt for any vehicle is

belt width,
belt depth (thickness)
and the length.

All these are important and can't be ignored because the belt has to fit properly in the pulley, as well as being of the right length! But two of the three you can determine more or less accurately just by looking and comparing. (Bear in mind that, unfortunately the old belt is no good for measuring length because it is stretched or broken but you can still use it for the other two factors involved).

The only limiting factor to how long the belt can be is, how far can you adjust it out to make it tight? If you get a longer belt and the PS pump swings all the way out and at the end of its travel and not tight enough, return this belt and get the next smaller one.