was it tough getting the AC belt off the sheaves?

I found that I needed to slacken the long bolt with a 10 mm socket and it took quite a few turns to get it slack enough. I probably had to sort of coax it on by turning the pulley and helping the belt jump over. I do machinery repair so I'm quite used to replacing belts on machinery.

the easiest way to compare is to another belt or in an auto parts place they will usually have a belt measuring device. the length is usually coded by the part number and there are both metric and standard belts.

the length becomes important when you have a power drive with more than one belt and often then there is only one adjustment so sometimes I'll ask for a matched set when I order them. If not, at the parts counter ask them to bring all the ones that size and try to look at the printing and get two made at the same time by the same machinery. they do vary. the AC is just one belt.

the vibrations at idle are a bit weird. it still does it if I slip into neutral so I dont think it's transmission related. it also seems to continue between about 750 and 1000 RPM or so.. once I'm rolling it goes away and car runs fine.

Some I might attribute to just needing a more perfect tune up and some may be to do with the way the muffler is suspended. it seems to sort of resonate and I can feel it through the floor, steering wheel etc. it sort of seems to repeat this resonation cycle every 1 second or so. maybe that's the "natural frequency" of the muffler or something like that. kind of like how a tree bough bounces at the same speed depending on it's length. maybe if I suspend it a bit differently it will help.

I think the vibrations of the engine are sort of being amplified by the resonance of the muffler system somehow. not exhaust resonance (exhaust sound) but mechanical resonance relating to it's length suspension points etc. the engine shakes a little, they do that, the muffler does too and two natural resonation frequencies can sometimes cross up and add together and influence each other and this can cause amplification. sort of a droning noise. I can hear some frequency patterns.

Its not hitting the body or anything like that. not serious but annoying, I got caught in traffic for an hour yesterday and it was on my mind the whole time ;-) it's not dangerous , just "not quite right" kinda like me LOL ;-)


I'll pull that AC belt for a while , it will eliminate the AC pump from that picture. I wondered if maybe I got a defective belt with a lump in it or something. a bent pulley might do similar. easy to rule out.