Just finished replacing my serpentine belt. Took about 1 hour to finish. Did some reading here and found some good advice. The locking pin to hold the tensioner was the key. Used a 1/2 drive ratchet and a 2ft pipe for leverage. Pulled up towards the centre of the engine with my right hand and with my left reached down and with a finger pushed up to the right the locking pin and slowly released the tension on the ratchet. The belt was loose. I made a diagram of the way the belt was routed. Good thing because the diagram on the fan shroud was incorrect. I will leave a copy of the routing in my glove box, incase I ever need it again. Took about a half dozen times, up on top and down under the front to finally route it correctly. Found that if you feed the belt from the top and route the crank first the rest will go in easier.
Anyway thought I would post this for others to go ahead and replace there belts. My truck has 155,000 klm on her (96,000 miles).

 

Ford has got to hold the record for the most difficult belt change... But I guess it is still better than all those v belts we use to have to change.....lol..

 

NO I have changed a couple of 24v cummins they are a nightmare!

 

Is there a trick to get a 1/2 inch rachet to fit on the idler? I can't get a rachet to fit in that tight of a space.

 

My wife drives an Odyssey..there is at least two different belts on that transverse mounted thing. Neither one looks like it will be fun to change when the time comes.

 

No trick just slightly tilted.

 

Crap I just remembered I gotta tackle this soon. I thought you had to remove fan shroud and all to do the belt. That's great to hear

 

I pulled that small extension piece off the top of the shroud to get a little more room. It's pretty easy - just some tabs behind the rubber seal where it meets the shroud. Several guys have said don't bother with it but I couldn't even see the tensioner before I pulled it.

 

One more thing to add. I had to remove the air/fan deflector to be able to reach in.

 

I purchased a tool specially designed for this job. I keep it, and a spare belt, in the truck. The tool makes it easier. I don't remember the name of the company who made said tool.

 

I just pull on the belt and flip up kickstand on belt tensioner no tools at all

give it a hard pull you can do it

 

When I did mine on my 24V Cummins, it wasnt that hard.

 

Great advice!! Thanks.

 

I shouldn't really be posting this, but you don't even need a ratchet. I just use my bare hands, and grab the belt between the alternator and the idler pulley on the tensioner, and give it a real hard YANK, while reaching underneath with the other hand to push the lock tab in. Although, belt and tensioner failures on 6.0L engines tend to be extremely rare. 7.3L belt tensioners are a different story though. Ditto for the primary drive belt tensioner on a 6.4L.

 

Just did this 5 mins ago. Took me 30 mins thanks to this thread! I'm a firm believer in not bumping old threads, but tech threads like this are an exception! Thanks guys!! Thank god it wasn't the belt tensioner!