How to remove serpentine belts???

Okay, i have a ton of belt noise from the engine bay. I know one or more of my pulley bearings is probably bad. I tried running a wire brush under the belt as it was going to clean out any sand or dirt but it had no effect.

Everyone always says "just take the belts off one by one and see which one is the problem". but how?

 

the belts on the 3.4 are easy to remove. all of them have tensioner bolts that increase or decrease tension then another bolt is tightened to hold it in place. alternator is one location power steering pump is another and on the a/c compressor is another loosen the pulley on bottom then loose the tensioner bolt

 

and then to put it back on, how do i know how tight to put the tensioner?

 

feel of the belts as you are tightening them. to tight is just as bad as too loose. you want to be able to move the belts about a 1/4 to 1/2. if you have never taken off belts or replaced them might want to get someone else to do it.

 

Your Tacoma has an automatic tensioner it will go to the correct tightness if there's nothing wrong with i.e. bad tensioner. You'll need either a socket wrench or two wrenches (one that fits on the tensioner bolt and one for leverage) on a v6 you place the wrench on the bolt in the center of the tensioner pulley and rotate it counterclockwise to release tension on the belt. Remove belt and slowly release tensioner. On the v6 before installing belt, lock the tensioneras follows: turn tensioner counterclockwis, align the two holes on the tensioner assembly and insert a 0.24-inch dowel pin or drill bit through the two holes. Install the belt. Be sure to route it correctly. Remove dowel or drill bit and tension the belt. Make sure that the belt I'd centered on all pulleys......or at least that's how it works on a 2nd gen. Hope it helps ya.

 

1st gen tacomas do not have auto tensioners on the accessory drive belts. power steering, ac, alternator. you must manually set the tension. the timing belt does but slack must be put on the correct side.

 

Oy. Okay. Two different answers here.


As for new pulleys/bearing, searching the forum tells me Gates makes the best bearings. I cant beleive how fragile these stupid things are. A little water and they're toast. Someone should make waterproof pulley bearings! Or at least servicable bearings so you can clean them out and lube them when need be. This shit is ridiculous.

 

actually its not that bad. are you talking about the drive belts or the timing belt?

 

i'm talking about the idler, A.C., P.S., alternator and whatever other pulleys are right there between the engine and fan that are exposed to the elements.

 

ok thats accessory belts. they have bolts that tension the bolts and bolts that lock down the other bolts.

 

well id like to take the belts off and see which ones are the noisiest instead of just ordering everying single one. Gates only seems to list the A.C. tensioner, http://opticat2.net/NavigatesBeta/f...ssenger+Cars+&+Light+Trucks&Type=Light+Trucks so Idk where to get the idler or other pulleys i may need.


Is it true that if the bearing on the alternator is bad you need to rebuild or replace the whole alternator???

 

i personally would go back with toyota belts. i got all my belts timing belt to from toyota for about 115. there are also places online you can get toyota parts from. rockauto.com is another

 

Well assuming i replace everything. How many pulleys do i need to buy? Idler, ac, ps, tensioner..... that it, or am i wrong? I know its 3 belts.

 

its probably your idlers

 

I'm thinking AC too.

 

Found this, although it stops short at removing the pulleys. http://www.yotatech.com/f2/how-change-drive-belts-3-4-l-5vz-fe-216234/

 

then that is going to be costly. the pulley rides on the shaft that goes into the compressor not just a pulley swap. a compressor swap which would mean evac the system then recharge it

 

i cant just slap this on? http://opticat2.net/NavigatesBeta/f...ssenger+Cars+&+Light+Trucks&Type=Light+Trucks

 

thats the idler below the compressor that tension the compressor belt looks like. yes you can just change that