Belt Tension

[ericdude]

Ok, I'm not one to buy every SST just for the heck of it, but the tension
gauge SST was important enough and unique enough I thought I needed it.

So today it arrived and I played around with it and have some issues:

* On the alternator/water pump belt, it seems to leave some marks, not
like it's cutting the belt, but the belt almost seems perversely pressure
sensitive. It turns whitish under the pressure of the belt tool. Not sure
if it will cause a problem but it seems kind of strange.

* If I pull the snorkel and the splash panels, I can see getting it on the
A/C belt, but it looks too large to fit on the PS pump belt (driven off the
water pump). There's only about 4 inches of free belt between the two
pullies and I'm not sure the tool will fit. This IS the factory recommended
tool so what gives? Am I back to the straightedge/deflection technique
for that belt despite blowing my $200 wad on this SST?

[SCT]

Personally, I never used a belt tensioner but had thoughts of buying one just incase. But using one consumes some time, so.

Basically for every car that do not have a spring loaded tensioner, just take a finger and pull or push on a section of the belt that has the greatest distance between two pulleys. It shouldn't deflect no more than 1/2inch before you have to use excess force on the belt to deflect more.

I don't use a straightedge.... I just mentally take a snap shot of the belt before I touch it, it's straight enough. Then I'll compare the difference when I tug the belt.

You could've save $200

BTW, the whitish marks that the tool may leave is because all rubber belts (or most) have a slight coating on them. The coat is just there to preserve the belt so it stays new as long as possible and takes less force so the coating gets injured. But that's fine, as long as the belt itself is not getting cut.

[ericdude]

I just checked the manual, and the spec for the alternator belt (used) is 130 lbs (+- 20).

However, I read 70 lbs on mine! How low can you go before it starts slipping? Anyone know?