With many Timing Belt replacements under my belt, I almost feel silly for asking but..
The Tensioner, I never replaced mine before. In fact it's still nice and quiet. I know the book says that you pull back on the Belt and put a Drill bit in the hole of the Rod. I never did that, I always pull back on the belt and retighten the Tensioner bolt. It holds it long enough to put the new belt on.

But replacing the tensioner means that the Spring loaded bar will be coming apart. What is the clean way of taking the spring and rod from the old tensioer to the new one and contract it so you can get the new belt on? Basically how do I squeeze the spring when I transfer it to the new Tensioner? Vise? not sure how stiff that spring really is.
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.no.net/ebrox/Tony's%20cars.htm

If the spring is too stiff to compress by hand, you can improvise a drill press to compress it. Push the pin end through a slot on the table or through the side of a clamped on channel lock jaws.

I re-use tensioners. If the tensioner rotates smoothly, just clean and lube. I do have spares just in case. So if you do switch yours out, keep it as a spare.

Or don't like him. :)
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1980 245 Canadian B21A with SU carb and M46 trans in Brampton, Ont.

I have close to 300K miles on my '89. This is the first time I was going to treat it to a new tensioner. Now that teh job is done. I did need to bother. the old one was still nice and quiet and tight. I'll hang onto it.

I've done 5 belt changes. My real question was about getting the spring of the tensioner 'unloaded' and 'reloaded'. I thought the tension would be more. Just pushing down on my workbench gave it enough compression to put a pin in the hole to get it back on teh car.
No problem.
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.no.net/ebrox/Tony's%20cars.htm

If you discover the duplicate post(s) before the time limit on the EDIT function has expired, this helps:

Choose the lower one of the two posts. Click EDIT. Then change the subject line to "Duplicate post...IGNORE... now empty...nmi" or words to that effect.

Then highlight the entire contents of the message and delete it.

When the two posts get separated, (1)the remaining "good" one will collect all the answers, and (2)no one will waste time on the empty one.

Works for me.

Bob

:>)

I don't know if your '89`s tensioner is setup the same as my '83 but what I've always done is with the old belt still installed I grab both sides of it somewhere around the center and squeeze it together with one hand and this will compress the spring enough to expose the hole where the drill bit goes. I can't remember what size the drill bit is- something like a #30 I think. Anyway, when you get that in and you go to remove it the spring is compressed onto a steel sleeve that also has the mount end that slides off of a mount and the whole assembly comes off together. After that's off you can pull the tensioner off of its' mount. Installation is reverse of the removal. Once the new belt is on you can squeeze the belt again and compress the spring enough to remove the drill bit. Good Luck!

That's been my method. But I have never replaced a tensioner roller. I just clean up the rolling surface, which tends to pick up flecks of rubber and dirt, and inject a few drops of oil into the bearing and spin it, then wipe clean.
They last forever - mine's still smooth and quiet after 375,000 miles.

I don't know if your '89`s tensioner is setup the same as my '83 but what I've always done is with the old belt still installed I grab both sides of it somewhere around the center and squeeze it together with one hand and this will compress the spring enough to expose the hole where the drill bit goes. I can't remember what size the drill bit is- something like a #30 I think. Anyway, when you get that in and you go to remove it the spring is compressed onto a steel sleeve that also has the mount end that slides off of a mount and the whole assembly comes off together. After that's off you can pull the tensioner off of its' mount. Installation is reverse of the removal. Once the new belt is on you can squeeze the belt again and compress the spring enough to remove the drill bit. Good Luck!

I start by squeezing with BMF channel-locks to put the drill bit/pin in place, then
use a vise, like Bentley shows on page 215-6, Figure 12.

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Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.

I can do that. I'll throw some cardboard on the jaws as not to scratch the pulley surface. I saw that in Bentley but I was wondering if there was a " Oh just do this" way of doing it.
All the " Just do it this ways" is what this Forun is all about.

Text book vs reality. That's why I asked.

Thanks Bruce

Tony
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.no.net/ebrox/Tony's%20cars.htm