AC Stretch Belt Tool
 

Has anybody found a stretch belt install tool that works on an LT4 or LT1 motor for the AC belt?

The one that gates sells is too big to fit behind the stock crank pulley nor the ATI balancer. The AC pulley has no room behind it, and the front of the AC pulley has the clutch so the tool wont fit there either. I tried the Lisle one, and it didnt work for the same clearance issues.

I searched and didnt find much information, besides walking the belt on like a bicycle chain. I had no luck using that method (without a tool).

I just watched an episode of Car Fix on Velocity last week where Jared did this using a zip tie for the same reason. But, sorry, can't remember what they were working on or what episode it was.

Found this video where the same technique was done on a Mazda.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlTMs9KVzBc

That zip-tie method is way more elegant than the cursing I did trying to figure out how to get mine back on, before just reusing the old one :laugh:

what cant you walk the ac belt on I used a cheater bar on the crank bolt to turn the motor started the belt on the balancer turned the motor and it grabbed and worked its way on the AC pulley, You do have to apply sideways force near the AC pulley so it walks on to go over the ribs... Are you saying it wont fit over the Lingenfelter 15% now?

it does help with a extra set of hands to hold the belt on the top of the AC pulley while you turn the crank all along having that set of hand pushing sideways towards the motor

There are no spokes to put the zip tie through on the crank pulley (ATI damper) nor on the AC pulley. Zip tie method not possible on this application.

I put the belt completely on the back pulley (closest to motor) on the ATI damper. Then try to get the belt started on the top of the AC pulley. I can get the belt fully on the AC pulley up to about 12 oclock, the rest of the belt is on the outside of the AC pulley face. I try holding that SOB belt to the AC pulley until my thumbs are killing me. I then had my neighbor pull up on the 1/2" ratchet to turn the crank clockwise to get the belt to work its way onto the AC pulley. No matter how hard I push on the belt to the pulley, I cant get it to walk around. I have tried for 3 hours now, with no luck.

I was trying to install the AC belt prior to installing the 8.6 lower overdrive pulley. All i had was the damper installed. So the blower lower drive pulley was not even involved. Its all about getting that damn AC belt to walk around the AC pulley.

I didn't have that problem sorry to hear that.. maybe since I reused my belt it was stretch a bit. It should be able to be done w this method.

1LE Red Dragon, sorry you are having a time of it.

I had a bit of difficulty doing the same thing. To get mine on I did not load the belt onto the final groove of the damper. Just too much stretch required. I loaded it onto the outer groove of the damper then worked the belt on to the A/C compressor then went back to the damper and worked the belt over to the inner groove.

I use this one:

https://www.amazon.com/CTA-Tools-345...w+ac+belt+tool

I have a few stretch belt tools and this is the only one I could find that fit my ZL1 and worked. Still a pain though. What a dumb design....

Belt stretch tools can work sometimes but on the LT ac belt you won't need it. The belt itself with stretch a bit and you can get it on with some persuasion.



A funny side note, when I was looking for a belt stretch tool I jumped on ebay and looked up belt stretcher....I got a good laugh out of that one lol.

I guess I'm just too weak. I couldn't get it to start/stretch to get it on. I'm guessing I might have had success if I did what TMS suggested and put it on outer pulley ring on the damper and got it on the AC pulley,then persuaded it over to the back section of the damper, where it belongs.

I said the heck with it and put the car back together without it. I'm taking it to my friend at Chevy to have him install it while hes doing my free 1st oil change.

:sm0:

new belt is way more difficult than reusing the stock belt. Supposedly, the stretch fit belts are not to be reused but I never had a problem on the LSA on 4 different cars. Zip tie method was the winner for me on an LS7 that proved to be difficult using a new belt. I have the gates stretch fit tool and the wedge style tool but both proved to be difficult to position.

Car has AC again and more boost (~2 psi). Dealership got AC belt done, but said it wasn't easy. He used a tool that didn't fit and a pry bar to work it on the AC pulley. $50 well spent. I wish I could get the 5 hours back I wasted on that SOB, belt.

On stock tune for now. Will datalog with wideband to check commanded vs actual air fuel using AFR error with HPtuners. I think the stock MAF may still be correct at the small boost increase,but think I'll hit peak torque limits that will close throttle.

Sweet, keep us posted. My mod path is going to closely mimic yours.

Has anyone found a tool for the ac belt? I have done 100 percent of the wrenching on everything in my signature, without any significant problems, but this belt has gotten the best of me. I removed and reinstalled my original belt a couple of times, it was a piece of cake to jump it on. This new belt is a COMPLETELY different story. None of the tools i have found will fit either the engine or ac pulley. Neither have holes or spokes for the zip tie method and the damn belt is just too damn tight to start enough to jump it on.

You are exactly where I was. I put 8 hrs of work into that belt, not counting all the tools I bought that didn't work. I drove my car without AC to the dealer and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I've never had something beat me like that. I'm sorry to tell you that is the only solution I have, take it to the dealer. Then $50 later you have air again and can get back to enjoying your car.

There are a few different iterations of the "stretch fit tool". There is the semicircle type which is what Gates recommends and a wedge type. I've used the zip tie trick too but all have been a PITA. Reusing the old belt never caused as much frustration just as you guys have mentioned above. There are a few instructional videos on YouTube. One guy with a 5th gen installed an AC belt with his sunglasses on...very irritating.

This is the newest version...hopefully, "new and improved".

im about to put a new ac belt on this weekend. I have always been able to walk them on, lets hope i can with the camaro. Do you guys work from the top of the engine bay or the bottom?

Can someone help me verify this is the correct belt. ACDelco 12685983 GM Original Equipment Air Conditioning Compressor Belt

https://www.amazon.com/ACDelco-12685...evrolet+Camaro

That's the correct part number. Best of luck with the install, I ended up using the tool referenced in post #10. It was still a major pain.

Walking belts onto a pulley is a bad idea. It damages the cords in the belt and shortens it’s life.

:confused: all stretch fit belts are "walked on" one way or another...there isn't any other way with no tensioner

I know, but I’m not a fan of stretch fit belts. Harder to install, usually can’t be reinstalled if you take it off, etc. I know it saves a few bucks for the bean counters, though. Just don’t like ‘em.
Some DIYers will try and walk a non-stretch belt onto a pulley, even using a screwdriver to pry it on, rather than properly loosening the tensioning mechanism. The machines I design have belt drives and we were having belt failures in the field. Come to find some inexperienced line workers and service techs were walking belts on and damaging them.

On this car, you have to follow the GM procedure. Put the belt on with the belt hanging off the back of the big pulley with a half twist. Turn the crank to walk the AC belt on.

You can find the GM page with these instructions on this forum.

I don't get the half a twist?

Page 4 shows the twist, I just dont understand how this helps?

https://www.chevrolet.com/content/da...n-12678596.pdf


https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...qvLIU4m1bWZ8eO

I tried this technique, didn't work for me, the belt just slipped, didn't have enough traction to walk on. I got the BMW tool from post 10 to work, but, if I ever need to install a new belt again, and my dealer will do it for fifty bucks, then I'll be visiting a dealership service department for the first time in my life, not counting a few warranty issues over the years.

I've seen dealers charger a lot more then $50 for that belt change.



We find that certain belts are easier to install then others. Do not buy a Gates belt or any other aftermarket belt. They are way to difficult to get on. Reuse the old one as long as you can and if you need to replace it get the Delco or GM part only.



We use a generic belt stretch tool over the ac pulley. It doesn't fit right but with two people you can make it work pretty quick. One holds it on and one spins the crank. For a good laugh jump on ebay and look up belt stretcher. Did that by mistake the first time lol.

Factory crank pulley does have openings to use zip ties. It works. Took more time getting the zip ties in there than actually walking the belt on. Did it myself w a brand new Ac delco belt.

I zip tied the belt about 5 o clock on the back side of the crank pulley. Left the top of the belt off the crank. Put the belt on the top of the Ac pulley. Pushed hard w my thumb to keep the belt on the Ac pulley and turned the crank clock wise. You can see the belt was pulled from the back side to the front but once I cut the zip ties and turned it over another 1/4 it aligned nicely.

Good job, Choda. Looks like the way to go for the guys with the factory LT1 pulley. I don't think this will work for the LT4 though.

Anyone ever figure out a tool that will work with what we have? I spent about 2 hours or so and a lot of wasted energy and hand damage, but I eventually got my original belt back on that's actually already been split half way down it from trying to walk it on the compressor pulley side.

I got mine by putting the belt square on the AC pulley first then putting the other end between the damper and engine and turned the crank (which isn't easy unless you have the fuel pump disconnected). The belt will definitely try to slip off the side of the damper as you are turning it trying to walk it on but I just held it with a screwdriver and kept pushing on it to where I turned the engine enough to where it stretched the belt enough to have enough friction so it wouldn't slip off. Then just kept turning and it walked on, but then it looks like the part of the belt that was split was twisted so hopefully that works its way back to normal or hopefully it doesn't break somewhere and I'm without AC but I've got bigger problems that that right now.

I rent the red stretch belt remover/installer tool at oriellys and usually have to use a pry bar too, never a fun process and last time I did not cut the belt and just reused it.

Just Ran into this same problem, oreillys tool worked great getting the belt off. However the installer was a conplete no go. Kept messing with it for a while then finally tried this and it worked pretty much no problem. Got the belt on the balancer groove first with it hanging off the side of the ac compressor, put the belt fully in the groove of the ac pulley where it first touches the pulley (about 11 o'clock position) . The rest of the belt kinda hangs off the side. Put all my pressure on the spot where the belt was in the groove and started turning over the engine really slow. If you can keep enough pressure on the belt where its in the groove, it will pinch itself in place and keep it from sliding as it walks itself on. The belt on the balancer may walk over a little but I just slowly worked it back the other direction so they were both fully seated.

Turns out there's no tool necessary if you figure out the trick. Both the lisle and oreilly tools didn't work for install.

Which way are you turning the crankshaft when you do this? Are you saying the belt is fully on the groves of the groves closest to the engine on the crankshaft pulley when you start?

i had my dealer replace my serpentine belt/idler a year or so ago under warranty and i bought a new ac to replace at same time lol charged me about $75 or so i just paid it

Manual said clockwise. The belt was all the way around the pulley on the crank in the grooves. Then I put the belt all the way in the grooves in one spot on the ac pulley. Tried to get a clear picture but didn't get pictures before I put it all back together.

Sorry I can't figure out rotating the pic but if you turn it 90* counterclockwise, that's looking straight at the belt. Second picture hopefully clarifies it.

have you tried my way?

Thanks, I am still a little confused since if you turn it clockwise and you only have the 12 o-clock top part of the belt fully on the grooves of the AC pulley it would just compress the belt and not do anything. If you did the same thing but with the 6 o'clock part of the belt on the bottom of the AC pulley it wouldn't do anything either because that part of the belt would be leaving the AC pulley if you are turning everything clockwise?

No I didn't try your way but looks like it works well

Belt goes on at about 11 o clock position on the ac pulley. As I rotated the crank, the lip on the front of the ac pulley wedged the belt on and locked it in place. The belt just continued the lock itself on and went on. Sorry if I'm not clearly explaining it but I'm open to help with anymore info I have