fan belt installation

Posted by David Grubbs On 2016/2/13 21:45:51

The battery on my 39 120 was way on its way to dying, so I drove the car to pick up a new one at Batteries Plus yesterday. (good price by the way - $80 for a Group 2 battery) On the way over there, as a test I turned on the headlights while driving about 35 mph and the gauge registered just below neutral. The generator has been recently tested at the rebuild shop and it is capable of turning out about 8 volts.

On the way back to the house with the new battery installed, I tried the lights again with the same results. My local old car guru told me that the old 1/2" fan belt was much too narrow and was riding in the bottom of the both the water pump and harmonic balancer pulleys, so the generator wasn't being turned at the proper speed.

So I stopped by NAPA and bought a 19/32" wide belt that fits nicely in the grooves. However, it is a toothed belt, and is thicker than the old one. The bad part is now I can't get the belt on as it won't fit underneath the vibration damper, as there isn't enough clearance between it and the front frame. I suspect that the front rubber motor mount has done the usual collapsing, which narrowed up the gap. It looks like if I could raise the motor slightly I could get the fan belt installed ok.

Question is - how to I raise the motor? I guessing that 2 short pieces of two by fours and two jacks might work, but has anyone else had this issue? The only other way I see is to remove the hood and hook up the hoist, but I'm trying to avoid that technique.

Thanks