Alpine951

I did my timing and balance belts for the first time the other day. I just tightened the alternator and power steering belts till they seemed reasonable. What should the actual tension be??

944S2IFISH2

According to shop manual... For 944 (Don't have turbo supplement - don't know if it's different)

Alt-A/C belt: 9.5 on the 9201 tool then increase tension one turn on connecting rod. (If no A/C then just 9.5)

P.S. belt: 9201 not needed. Press in center of belt span. Deflection should be approx 5mm.

HTH

ringo951

How do you tension the A/C-Alt belt without the $5000 magic 9201 tool. What is the approx deflection tension on the alt-a/c belt if it were at 9.5 on the 9201 tool.

Skip

85 lbs - or, about 1/2" of deflection pushing (very subjective). The Kriket I (NAPA, others) is good for this. I always use the spec of "tight"... very scientific, wouldn't care to explain it to you heathens

Raceit

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Skip:
<strong>85 lbs - or, about 1/2" of deflection pushing (very subjective). The Kriket I (NAPA, others) is good for this. I always use the spec of "tight"... very scientific, wouldn't care to explain it to you heathens </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Heathens... one of my favorite words.

I agree. Tight is good. I guess it's one of those things that you'll know it. Plus if you're unsure about over tighting then go easy. You can always go tighter if your power stearing or a/c doesn't work.

Skip

So, you're saying it's better to be loose than tight? Is that what you are saying? I'm just curious to know if that's what you are saying. Well, is it?

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led

what's the worse that could happen in either case? to loose = no a/c or ps and too tight = the belt snaps?

johne

too tight and it can wear out the bearing in your alternator/ps pump/ac compressor due to too much torsional force from the belt. That would be bad.

Skip

Seriously (no, really), loose is better than tight. Loose will give you squeal and belt fraying - Tight will cause excessive wear on the bearings for the accessories.

Skip

ringo951

Well, I can tell you what happens if it is too loose. No one had responded in time to my post and I had to get the car back on the road to get home from my moms. So, I put the belt on and tightened it till I thought it was pretty tight. I drove about 3 miles and the a/c went warm and the voltage guage dropped and the light came on. I knew I had just thrown the brand new belt I put on. It wasn't tight enough, so it threw the new one and chewed it to pieces. When I finally found another parts store that had one in stock I put it on and really tightened this one good. I have a little less than 1/2" of deflection but more than a 1/4" between the crank pulley and a/c pulley. I can twist it past 45 degrees but not to 90 at this same location. It did not throw this one. Does it sound like I might have it too tight, or just right.