Question regarding ancillary drive belt removal / refit

Hi,

Apologies for the rookie question, but I am starting the removal of the high pressure diesel pump on my Wife's Freelander TD4 today and am just nervous of removing the ancillary drive belt.

Given that the various drive wheels are synchronised should i mark the belt and wheels with tipex so that when I fit the same or new belt I can realign the wheels to how they were should they move or is there nothing timing related being driven off this belt.

Given it is not a toothed belt I get the impression that this is not required, but I wanted to ask just in case.

PS - Can you get away with a ring spanner for the tensioner on belt 1 or do I need a special tool?

Many thanks in advance

No need to mark the aux drive-belt or pullys and yes, a ring spanner will do the job perfectly.
If can be a bit of a faff routing the belt correctly while holding the tensioner back but get it right and it will slip straight on, make a muck up of it and you will be there 10-minutes cursing away.

Are you doing the aircon belt while you are there?
I only ask as replacing the aircon belt takes only a couple of minutes when the aux belt has been removed but to do it separately means doing it all again. Might as well do it while you can.

Litch said:

No need to mark the aux drive-belt or pullys and yes, a ring spanner will do the job perfectly.
If can be a bit of a faff routing the belt correctly while holding the tensioner back but get it right and it will slip straight on, make a muck up of it and you will be there 10-minutes cursing away.

Are you doing the aircon belt while you are there?
I only ask as replacing the aircon belt takes only a couple of minutes when the aux belt has been removed but to do it separately means doing it all again. Might as well do it while you can.

Click to expand...

Thanks Litch, You have raised a good point there. Should I replace the belts as a matter of course or see what condition they are in?

see if the belt has cracks in it

Personally I would always replace the belts. The cost is relitively low and if you are removing them anyway you know that the job is done and won't require attention again for some time.
Of course if the belts were replaced very recently and are still in perfect condition then there is good reason to re-use them but if you don't know when they were last done or have been on for any period of time then I always change.