a while back i replaced a chirpin main serpentine belt and saw the AC belt there and thought it looked like a pain to replace so i just did the front belt. well now the AC belt chirps too so im replacing it. problem is, its a pain in the butt. it shouldnt be. remove the main front belt, put a wrench on the AC belt tensioner and take the old belt off. that much worked well. now i cant get the new one on, its the same exact size as the one that came off but now i cant get it over all the pulleys and tensioner because it seems to short, but that cant be really cause the same size one came off.....i even tried to replace the old one back on it and it too wont fit now. my car cant grow so what the heck am i doing wrong? it doesnt seem like there is enough travel in the tensioner to get it to stretch into place. what the heck was GM thinking when they put that tensioner down tehre anyway? u can tget to it. im really pissed right now but am controlling my anger to just stabbing a screw driver into the fence etc so far. what is the trick if any to getting it to go back on and if its not possible to do, can i drive it without the ac belt on and just put the main belt back on so i can get it to a shop so they can overcharge me to put the ac belt on??? i hate to tow it in if it doesnt have to be.....and i hate to have the vette sitting there not driveable cause of stupid belts that wont go back on...please help. anyone with suggestions?????

 

someone at least humor me and read this damn thread.....please. oh well. guess no one will help. the vette will be parked until i get time to work on it i guess.

 

Just Did mine it is really not that hard. Just do it for the top make sure to put a good cover over the finder you have to kinda lay over it lol. Use a 3/8 long handle wrench and put it on the nut on the pully and push it over and take it off. Feeding it is a pain make sure to get it straight on the pully. When you put it on the bottom. push the teninsor as far as you can seem like it is to far, but mine went way past the water pump with the handle. At first i thought it would not fit but when you get it there is a lot of room to put it over the pully. Hope this helps a little, really not that had just a pain in the as-.

 

Man I feel your pain I changed both of mine a while back came off easy but that little one takes three monkey hands to get on.
I got it on but it was a PIA

 

yay. its done. amazing what a restful night can do for you. that and a longer wrench that was offset more to get aroudn that dang big pulley. still was a biznitch but not nearly as bad as it could have been i guess. whats weird though, is when it finally decided it wanted to go on, it just kinda fell into place like it meant to be there. now why didnt it do that the first go round??? same way those pesky brake duct vents (the little ones in the frt bumper) are. those screens just are supposed to go in and pull back and they fall into place. on both C5's it took forever to coax them into place then poof. they finally decided to fit and i was like why?? haha