'87 4kq: alternator belt change; WAS: all lit up

[Andrew Buc]

On Saturday, January 21, 2006, at 07:46  PM, Brendan wrote:

> Get the goodyear gator belt. They stay on.
>

Sure enough, the alternator belt was hanging from the alternator 
pulley. Well, I've got the old belt off, and the alternator cranked 
over towards the centerline of the car for the shortest possible belt 
path, and I can't get the new belt on for love nor money!

As it happens, my FLAPS had the Goodyear Gatorback belt--they gave me 
an 11AV0840, which was what was listed for my car. After struggling 
with it for a while, I dug out the old Conti belt that was on the car 
before the one that failed--I'd kept it as a spare. The cardboard 
sleeve said AVX 10x850, so I wondered if they'd given me the right 
belt. I was assuming that 10 was probably the width in mm, and 840 or 
850 the circumference, but the parts-counter lady said those numbers 
had nothing to do w/size of the belt. Is she right, or am I? This time 
I'd brought the Conti belt for her to match. She measured it and said a 
match would be a 10 x 833, but they didn't have it in stock.

Is there some trick that I'm overlooking? (I won't preach to the choir 
re the difficult access to the belt.) The belt that just failed is 
missing some teeth--right now if Team Alternator Belt comes near me, 
they'll be likewise! Thanks.