Serpentine Belt information

[hswaters]

I don't have enough miles on my XD to need to replace the serpentine belt as yet. My granddaughter has a 2008 XD and already has 40,000 miles so I expect we may be nearing the replacement time for this belt. In the past with cars I just replaced the serpentine belt at 50,000 miles to be sure I did not find myself with a broken belt. It is hard to see all of the area around the belt and so I cannot tell if it has a spring type of belt tensioner or if this is a totally manual operation. Does anyone have a picture from a repair manual or some instructions? If this is a totally manual tightening operation, how do I make sure I do not get the belt too tight?

[HATEnFATE]

It appears that the Alternator should be the pivot/tightening point for the Belt. I can't give you an exact on how the belt should feel but you do want a little give in there so you don't start to weaken the belt by stretching it. a good way to make sure you don't have it too tight would be to check the tension of the belt before you take it off the car. Get the new belt just slightly tighter..

[hswaters]

That is sort of what I was thinking. Thanks for the help.