Fan Belt Difference ??
Super Moderator
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Well after rereading the whole thread I replaced the belt with a Gate's Fleetrunner Micro_V cold weather with the green stripe to cure the bird chirp under the hood last year. That is the shorter belt. Then a few months later I had a new noise coming from the belt area and it ended up being the water pump.
Thanks Ed, and sorry that I need both the Cliff Notes AND a private tutor!
Do you attribute the construction and material of the new green stripe belt, OR, the shorter length of the green stripe belt, as the key factor to the cure?
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Postmaster
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From: Gary,Indiana
Honestly by looking at the belt I do believe the construction of the belt is a improved design and the shorter length I feel puts more tension on the belt which helps too. Mind you I have had used a Motorcraft and Dayco belts and both ended up making noises within 5k or so. But I am unsure of if they were the longer belts or not. Mind you I still would like to go back to the OEM tension at some point in time. But for now there is no need to do anything.
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Postmaster
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From: Gary,Indiana
I am using the Gates K081213HD and here is a link about the Fleetrunner Micro_V
http://www.gates.com/~/media/files/g...12030_2016.pdf
http://www.gates.com/~/media/files/g...12030_2016.pdf
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,508
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From: North Carolina, Raleigh
the guys that go around the world in a ford f-550 use the fleetrunner belts on there 7.3L engines.
check the truck out.. The Turtle V | Turtle Expedition
the adventure is quite amazing.
check the truck out.. The Turtle V | Turtle Expedition
the adventure is quite amazing.
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Postmaster
Joined: Dec 2010
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From: Gary,Indiana
the guys that go around the world in a ford f-550 use the fleetrunner belts on there 7.3L engines.
check the truck out.. The Turtle V | Turtle Expedition
the adventure is quite amazing.
check the truck out.. The Turtle V | Turtle Expedition
the adventure is quite amazing.
Senior User
Joined: Mar 2015
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There ARE different belt tensioners Ed. Hang on a minute while I get that info for you. Sorry, that was more like an hour, but I had to take an important call.
On my 2000, I installed a new drive belt, belt tensioner, and water pump pulley kit released in 2002 by Ford that applied to certain 2000-2003 F-350 DRW, F-450, and F-550 chassis cabs. I do not know why F-250/350 single rear wheel trucks were not called out for this kit, despite having the same engine, nor would I hazard a guess.
The kit was to address a concern about squealing noises from the drive belt, which Ford claimed was caused by dust on the back (smooth) side of the drive belt where it interfaced with the (smooth) water pump pulley. Note that the kit did not just replace this pulley, nor just the belt, nor just the pulley and the belt together... it also replaced the tensioner. The part number to the tensioner in the kit is different than original equipment. I suspect that the tension spring is different, and that the belt is slightly different. The instructions stated to only use the belt supplied in the kit with the tensioner supplied in the kit. I stretched both belts side by side, and did find a slight difference in length. Unfortunately, I do not remember which belt was longer, the kit belt or the OEM belt. The difference was not significant at all, but it was observable.
For single alternator chassis cab applications use Ford Kit part number 2C3Z-8620-AA
For dual alternator chassis cab applications use Ford Kit part number 2C3Z-8620-BA
Again, I do not know if the single rear wheel pick ups use yet a different part number, or the same part number under a different OASIS service message, or if there was even a drive belt / tensioner / pump pulley ever released for pickups. That would take some searching. But at least know that there are different belt tensioners that may require different belts that are not that unlike the original belt, but are subtly different.
On my 2000, I installed a new drive belt, belt tensioner, and water pump pulley kit released in 2002 by Ford that applied to certain 2000-2003 F-350 DRW, F-450, and F-550 chassis cabs. I do not know why F-250/350 single rear wheel trucks were not called out for this kit, despite having the same engine, nor would I hazard a guess.
The kit was to address a concern about squealing noises from the drive belt, which Ford claimed was caused by dust on the back (smooth) side of the drive belt where it interfaced with the (smooth) water pump pulley. Note that the kit did not just replace this pulley, nor just the belt, nor just the pulley and the belt together... it also replaced the tensioner. The part number to the tensioner in the kit is different than original equipment. I suspect that the tension spring is different, and that the belt is slightly different. The instructions stated to only use the belt supplied in the kit with the tensioner supplied in the kit. I stretched both belts side by side, and did find a slight difference in length. Unfortunately, I do not remember which belt was longer, the kit belt or the OEM belt. The difference was not significant at all, but it was observable.
For single alternator chassis cab applications use Ford Kit part number 2C3Z-8620-AA
For dual alternator chassis cab applications use Ford Kit part number 2C3Z-8620-BA
Again, I do not know if the single rear wheel pick ups use yet a different part number, or the same part number under a different OASIS service message, or if there was even a drive belt / tensioner / pump pulley ever released for pickups. That would take some searching. But at least know that there are different belt tensioners that may require different belts that are not that unlike the original belt, but are subtly different.
So I remember back a few years ago to an F350 pickup I had that would have trouble fully locking up the fan clutch when pulling hard. It would squeel the belt loudly when the fan kicked on full. New pulley, tensioner and belt no difference, but I never did try the slightly shorter belt.
Fast forward to today! I ordered and installed the 8620-BA on a different truck having the same issue and found a few interesting things out.
1. The belt is a DIFFERENT part number
2. The belt is tackier
3. The belt is thicker
4. The belt is slightly shorter
5. The tensioner matches in name, origin, pulley diameter, part number and range of motion compared to my replacement from 6 months ago from Ford.
6. The water pump pulley is identical to my current one in width and diameter. This surprised me actually as I had expected this to be different.
I have not had the cooling fan go into lockup at 3,000rpm yet to see if it makes a difference but I hope so! I did try blocking the radiator completely and with the exhaust brake on it still could not get hot enough to kick the fan on 100% so not sure if it fixed until trailer hooks.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,506
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From: Staunton, VA
When I did my water pump I went ahead and replaced my belt with a Bando unit from work and haven't had issues out of it. Bando is less susceptible to chirping than Dayco, but then again we really haven't had any reports of Dayco chirping so who knows. I like it so far though.
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So I remember back a few years ago to an F350 pickup I had that would have trouble fully locking up the fan clutch when pulling hard. It would squeel the belt loudly when the fan kicked on full. New pulley, tensioner and belt no difference, but I never did try the slightly shorter belt.
Fast forward to today! I ordered and installed the 8620-BA on a different truck having the same issue and found a few interesting things out.
1. The belt is a DIFFERENT part number
2. The belt is tackier
3. The belt is thicker
4. The belt is slightly shorter
5. The tensioner matches in name, origin, pulley diameter, part number and range of motion compared to my replacement from 6 months ago from Ford.
6. The water pump pulley is identical to my current one in width and diameter. This surprised me actually as I had expected this to be different.
I have not had the cooling fan go into lockup at 3,000rpm yet to see if it makes a difference but I hope so! I did try blocking the radiator completely and with the exhaust brake on it still could not get hot enough to kick the fan on 100% so not sure if it fixed until trailer hooks.
Fast forward to today! I ordered and installed the 8620-BA on a different truck having the same issue and found a few interesting things out.
1. The belt is a DIFFERENT part number
2. The belt is tackier
3. The belt is thicker
4. The belt is slightly shorter
5. The tensioner matches in name, origin, pulley diameter, part number and range of motion compared to my replacement from 6 months ago from Ford.
6. The water pump pulley is identical to my current one in width and diameter. This surprised me actually as I had expected this to be different.
I have not had the cooling fan go into lockup at 3,000rpm yet to see if it makes a difference but I hope so! I did try blocking the radiator completely and with the exhaust brake on it still could not get hot enough to kick the fan on 100% so not sure if it fixed until trailer hooks.
DirtScooter, thanks for your report.
Upon review, and after comparing my own OEM tensioner with the Ford tensioner included in the Ford TSB kit I mentioned above, it appears that there is a possibility that Ford's inclusion of a new tensioner could be a "best practice" or "fix it once" measure to replace the tensioner anytime a belt is replaced.
If true, this would seem to be a rare case of Ford actually not pinching a penny, especially since there was no warranty coverage for this repair beyond the original 3/36 bumper to bumper, and at that low of mileage or time in service, presumably the spring in the tensioner would not have worn or even weakened much by then.
Since the tensioners are visually the same, and since it is doubtful that Ford would spend anymore money than absolutely necessary to fix a problem, it seemed more likely that there was an internal difference (spring rating?) between tensioners, when comparing the original tensioner to the service tensioner identified in the kit. However, I do not have any information to verify or eliminate this as a possibility, nor do I have a way of measuring the spring rate of a tensioner. Therefore, the possibility that there is no difference in the tensioners whatsoever is equally valid until proven otherwise. Thank you for pointing this out.
I also found the water pump pulleys to be visually indistinguishable. But that could be due to Ford presuming that wear on the surface of the original water pump pulley would exist for the problem reported that is intended to be resolved by the kit in the TSB.
Tuned
Joined: Feb 2017
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Ever go swimming in frigid Lake Tahoe? I did and I can guarantee my cold weather package was definitely .835" smaller. 
Based on a quick google the "cold weather package" is what pretty much every truck has; block heater, AIH, EBPV, and a PCM programmed to use these things.
I'd like to see it in factory literature to be sure tho.
Based on a quick google the "cold weather package" is what pretty much every truck has; block heater, AIH, EBPV, and a PCM programmed to use these things.
I'd like to see it in factory literature to be sure tho.
Page 3089 of 4382 of the 99 Ford truck manual describes the block heater as "optional".
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