There have been a few posts lately with folks changing the 3 drive belts and including the unneccessary steps of removing the battery, the battery tray, the lower engine bay skidplate and even the fan (!?).
Since I changed my belts today after a fruitless attempt to quiet them down, I thought I'd outline this simple procedure, which I'd have completed in 20 minutes had my neighbor walked over to say hello.
First, loosen the lock bolt in the center of the A/C tensioner pulley. It's a 14mm and I find it easiest reached standing with the left foot in the engine bay and right foot on the bumper. Lean way down with an open end wrench, bracing yourself on the valve cover with your left hand. Just loosening a revolution will do.
Then slide under the truck with a 14mm on about a foot of extension and find the 1" hole under the AC compressor. Directly in line with it is the tensioner bolt - a very long bolt. Turn it counter clockwise until it comes loose and then insert it for a revolution or two. It helps to remove the ratchet handle and use the extensions only once the bolt is finger tight so you don't drop the bolt. You just 'feel' that it's out of threads, then spin it back in a rev or two.
Loosen the alternator upper bolt it pivots on. Just a couple turns and I think it's a 12mm.
Then the lock nut on the alternator below it - again only a couple turns (12mm). This lock nut clamps down on a very long bolt whose threads you can see while loosening it, which is the tensioner bolt.
Loosen the tensioner bolt counterclockwise (12mm) until it literally comes out of the tensioner. Thread it back in a couple turns. This tensioner bolt is easily accessed with a socket wrench sans extension in a tight spot a stubby would speed things up. The 3 minutes of limited swinging here is what causes most folks to opt for the hour of removing the battery and battery tray.
So now to remove the belts. First, the A/C belt will nearly fall off, though it might help to reach deep down in with one hand to manually pull the tensioner pulley up (gravity will keep it holding the belt). Then the longer dual belts - forward one first. Pulling/pushing on the belts will help pivot the alternator all the way through its travel to ease reinstalling the new ones. Then roll the forward one off the alternator pulley and free it from the other pulleys. Loop it up over a couple fan blades, then rotate the fan and keep looping over more and more blades until you can simply pull it up and out between the fan and the radiator fins. There's plenty of room here - no need to remove the fan. Roll the rearward belt off and do the same.
Install the rearmost of the new dual belts, seating the the belt properly on the rear groove of the engine pullley and first putting it in the forward groove on the alternator pulley, then moving it to the alternator pulley's rear groove where it belongs. I mention this because trying to move it directly to the alternator's rear groove will cause tremendous tension in the belt. Better to do two small steps. Seating the 2nd of the dual alternator belts is more difficult because you can't spin the pulleys as easily to get it into the groove with the other belt adding some friction. If you can't get it fully on, note the direction the engine will spin (look at the fan blades, which push air rearward when the engine's running) and hook the belt as best you can such that when you bump the starter the engine will pull it the rest of the way. BE SURE YOU HAVE NO TOOLS OR PARTS WHERE THEY CAN CAUSE DAMAGE OR INJURY.
Tension the dual belts by tightening the tensioner bolt clockwise until you're satisfied. Snug up the tensioner lock bolt - no need to crank on it, just nice and snug. Tighten the bolt the alternator pivots on above it.
Now install the A/C belt. As before, it helps to reach way down with your left hand and manually lift the tensioner pulley to get enough slack and keep holding the pulley up while you're working it onto the A/C compressor pulley. Back under the truck to tighten the belt tensioner bolt. Right foot back in the engine bay and lean way down to tighten the tensioner's lock bolt. You're done. Now snicker to yourself about how others would still have 45 minutes work or more to reinstall the battery, battery box, skidplate and fan. With the 90 minutes you saved, wash the car and check all fluid levels, tire pressure and have a #6 while sitting on the tailgate while snickering a bit more....
DougM
Thanks for the info. I just broke the A/C tensioner bolt, so i'll give this another try when it comes in. This thing is unlike any belt change I've had to mess with in the past.