HELLLLLLPPPPP. We have an f150 with 160,000 miles on it. Straight six engine. The air conditioner compressor was locked up and we couldn't afford, nor see the need, to convert the AC system, so we followed someone's advice of circumventing the AC with the serpentine belt. The belt rubbed atop the AC pulley, so we removed the pulley. (No snickers...we're rank amateurs! as you can tell) Now we can't find a belt that works. The 82.5 inch belt is so tight that it is burning the power steering pump; the 83.7 inch belt is so loose that it doesn't even turn when the truck is running. Soooo, it seems to me that we need an 83-inch belt.

HELP....where can we find a custom size like this? Or, is there somewhere along the pathway that we can tighten up the 1/2 inch or so that would make this work.

My son has been without the truck for three weeks as we have tried to find solutions and none seem to exist.....

did I mention HELPPPPPPP?

 

My 87 with a 5.0 did not come with A/C but it had a bracket and pulley where the A/C pump should sit. When I added A/C I was able to use the same belt because the pump was in the same place as that elimination pulley and bracket. Maybe they did the same thing with your model? If so you could get one from a junk yard or a dealer and just remove your A/C pump, put the A/C elimination pulley and bracket on and use the stock belt. I see them on ebay once and a while also.

 

Put the original belt back on the compressor pulley. That's all. Just don't turn on the A/C and leave the belt alone. If you're worried, just unplug the compressor clutch right next to the belt, but don't waste time & money on a different belt.

 

You need to get the crankshaft and water pump pulleys from a no-AC 4.9. Without AC, Ford swapped the order of the crank and WP in the belt routing.

With AC, the WP (and AC) are between the crank and steering. Without AC, the WP is between the crank and air pump.

The shop manual diagram shows the crank and WP pulleys to be different diameters. I don't know if that's really the case or not. The engine view drawing shows the WP to be different but the crank pulley appears the same. There might be other changes too (like a different tensioner).