S70 tensioner tool

I bought the one from IPD a few years ago, IIRC it is pretty much a

3/4" drive.

I saw on a web site where someone made a tool from a vice grip clutching a couple of quarters.

On the tensioner, I see a crosshatch (+) slot.

Do you get into this slot and twist to release?

CCW? CW?

How far? 1/2 turn? full?

THANKS

The belt is self tensioning via the automatic tensioner. I presume you want to slacken the belt to remove it?

My tool for the later cars [1]is a short strip of steel which will fit between two corners of the cross to which i clamp a pair of self locking grips (wrench - "Molegrips" / "visegrips" ) etc to the spare bit sticking out so as to turn the tensioner against the spring enough to remove the belt.

[1] earlier cars have a square hole where a 1/2" wrench will fit in quite nicely. Tim..

Thanks Tim.

Do you turn counter clockwise or clockwise? How far?

(I just want to know what to expect....don't want to screw anything up).

When it slackens, does it stay in the loose position or does it tighten up again when you let off?

Is it a spring action or something?

"Michael" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

If you stand in front of the car and you have the lever arm above the square hole attachment point you then pull the lever towards you. You are pulling againist a spring so you must hold force on the lever the whole time. Pull gently but frimly till it stops and hold it there and now remove belt. Once the belt is off you can slowly reduce tension. depending on the tool you are using you may find that the small hose (3/4" diamater or so) from the coolant recovery bottle is in the way of your lever. I found this to be the case as the tensioner with no belt in place will rotate farther than if a belt were in place. I temporarily used some wire to hold the tool I used in the full forward position while I got the old belt off and new one on.

I have seen the vise grip and 3 coins picture. I keep that idea in the back of my mind in case I am stranded some time, but decided to make a tool from a piece of flat stock, a piece of 3/4" square bar stock and two socket head cap screws. I would think that if one had the right width flat stock and could heat it up to bend it it could be a one piece tool.

I have seen IPD selling one for approx 30$us plus around 10$us for us shipping and decided to make my own instead.

ascii art of the tool I made, top view ___________________________________________ | | |________________________________________ _| | | | | - front view ___________________________________________ | /\ | |________________________________________\/_|

hope this conveys the message as you can see I am not skilled at ascii art.

Can one attach very small jpgs in this newsgroup to show a point like this clearly???

OPPS!!! ascii art may not work at all depending on your font and other matters, sorry.

Hey thanks a million.....I'll print out your instructions and get working on this.

I think I'll fabricate some sort of tool as well.

This is one repair that I'm not going to be gouged on......

650.00 just to replace the alternator is ridiculous.

Electronics is my specialty......I can't understand why they just don't pull the AC out of these things and do all the rectification and regulation outboard.

THANKS

"Michael" wrote in news:FfednW9W9LxQC snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

Well at a minimum there is a battery to charge. There is voltage regulation. I think it is simpler to have all you supply in one place, imagine how many places would have to have diode bridges, caps, and voltage regulators built in, many places for failure, heat dissapation beyond what is now needed in each item that uses power.

It could be done.

It probably has something to do with "how it's always been done". Back in the old days, generators kept batteries charged, and there were no solid state diodes. In a generator, power is generated in the rotor, and was rectified by means of brushes on a commutator. So DC came out of the generator, so that's how alternators were designed. Some motorcycles do have a separate diode pack / regulator.