Just wanting to know if anyone has seen a serpentine belt kit for a 7.3 idi
i have a 1990 f350

 

A salvage yard should be able to fix you up.
Lots of the 93 and 94 engines had them.

I personally like the V belts.
I can lose a belt on the power steering and still have brakes.
Or I can loose the brakes and still have power steering.

Serpintine belts make you loose everything at once.

 

the only problem with v-belts on mine i cant seem to get the alt belt to stay tight. i know the possibity with serp belts but if you keep the system in good shape you shouldnt have a problem

 

I would stay with the vbelt setup and solve your belt tension problem. I have had many problems with the serp belt chirping and I only get about 10K miles before it throws the belt. I have changed tensioners and idlers and several of the accessories and pulleys, checked belt alignment many times, and still have problems with it. I know of a few others with IDI's and PSD's that have the same issues. Also, seems that most of the trucks my company owns with serp belts suffer from the same problems. The only conclusion I've been able to come to is that increased vibration from the diesel engine is causing the belt to shock the tensioner. At idle and no load cruise RPM, the tensioner bounces constantly as if it were worn out. Under load, the problem is intensified. There were several service bulletins and updates from Ford that dealt with the serp system.

Jason

 

I too suggest you stick with the belts. I had a '92 7.3 with the septintine belt. I went through belts like crazy until I took it in and Ford replaced the pulleys on ALL the assessories. Twas expensive, but I never changed another belt as long as I kept the truck.

If you gotta spend the money, I'd bet you'd spend less fixing what you have.

 

Yeah, V belt's the way to go, as long as your water pump is turning you'll make it home.
FWIW, it's normal for the lower area of the alternator belt to bounce around while idling.

 

i changed my alt v belt to a shorter one that only goes to alt and water pump havent had any belt problems since

 

Same thing I see on my 91, watch the belts at idle and you swear there loose but shut it down and there fine. All that vibration is what wears out the tensioners on the serp. Unless you replace the tensioner every couple of years you usually have belt trouble. I would stay with the v-belt, If it isnt charging you mite want to change the pully on the alternator.

 

you guys are pretty convincing. it think i finally solved the problem i switch from a gates belt to a goodyear belt and the bounce at the top of the belt quit. still a little at the bottom bet i guess ill live with it

 

That bounce is present in lots of belts.
I have found running premium belts does reduce or eliminate the bounce.
It is easy to overtighten the alternator belt trying to eliminate the bounce, doing that may cost you an alternator.

I have watched mine as I run it through the RPM range, the bounce goes away after 11 or 12 hundred RPM. I don't worry about it, I have never had a problem with it because it was bouncing.
I have also noticed the bounce is worse if the pulleys are well worn. At 275,000 miles my alternator pulley was so worn the belt was riding against the bottom of the pulley groove.
Replaced the pulley and the bounce was almost gone.

 

The theory is the serpentine belts use less power and give a very small boost on fuel economy.

However, I have had enough trouble with my serpentine belt on my 93 to last me a lifetime. I have upgraded to a heavy duty tensioner just to give my belts a reasonable life expectancy. At 200,000 km the bearings in most of my pulleys were gone. I will be lucky if I get 30,000 km out of one belt.

My advise: Stick with the V-Belts.

PS I don't like the altinator belt wobble on my 91, I think the run from the pulley to the crank is too long. There probably should be an intermittent idler pulley. I know it only wobbles at idle; however it wobbles so bad that I get marks on the back of the belt where it hits the vacuum pump pulley. Maybe I will figure something out for this one day. Obviously it work anyways.