Double Fan Belt

Some time ago while noticing that my V6 water pump pulley had two grooves, one of which was not used, I thought about adding a second fan belt. I like the redundancy factor. And I figured I'd get more grip on the alternator pulley. Since its a 125 amp alternator I wouldn't have to tighten the belt as much and this would ease the load on the bearings. Spent several months searching ebay for a 3 groove Buick crank pulley (the jeep has PS) that was reasonably priced in the neighborhood of $10-15. Quite a few different diameters out there as these were used on many different Buick motors. I ignored those that the seller thought that black spray paint was equivalent to gold plating. But I found the same diameter pulley for $12. Was able to locate a new 2 groove alternator pulley for just under $10. Not bad. Get two new belts an keep the old one as a spare. Thought I was getting away cheap until I got to NAPA. Two premium belts, $36, ouch.

Put it all together and convinced myself that I need a quick, simple and accurate way to tension the belts. Well I'm not about to lay down $80 for one of those billet show car turnbuckles. Took some measurements, went to Home Depot and found the turnbuckle I needed for $3.78. Fabbed up a bracket for the lower mount and installed it. Works great!

 

THATS cool....

gotta love having a kick A** imagination...

:easy rider:

 

Your tensioner is awesome, I had one of those "why didn't I think of that?" moments.

 

Nice. That's my kind of home brew.

 

Looks good. I am curious how it will work after a few miles. They used to sell "matched belts" for air conditioning and similar setups.
Don't think they do anymore. Maybe the premium belts will be close to the same size. I have had problems with one stretching more and rolling in the groove. Hope it does not happen to you.