Serpentine Belt Advantages

[jaluhn83]

So, is it worth converting from v-belt to serpentine? Why or why not?

The v-belts are harder to change and I'd guess more susceptible to failure, but you also have the advantage of only loosing one thing when you loose a belt. (unless you get a weird chain reaction) Serpentine is stronger but if you loose a belt everything stops. Also you can't just take off the belt if one thing fails, ie AC compressor.

Is the single belt cheaper than the set of 4?

Thoughts?

I'll have all the parts on my turbo motor, though there's a fair amount of work involved in swapping everything over.

Thanks,
~John

 

[Hyde]

I dont think it would be worth it to swap over if you have one or the other, they both work fine. I imagine a serpentine setup would be slightly better if you had an alternator driven aftermarket tach, seems less likely to slip.

 

[franklin2]

The serpentine is really the only belt that will transfer enough horsepower to a 130amp 3g, and give you the full output rating of the alternator. Other than that, I see lots of dis-advantages. I know a guy who has been stranded at least twice with something going wrong with his serpentine system. One time was the A/C clutch fell apart, the next time was the idler pulley assembly came apart.

 

[riotwarrior]

Oh I'll throw in a couple reasons...

# 1 all the v belts are together far more expensive to replace than one Serp belt
# 2 replacing one Serp belt on the side of a busy hiway, takes one socket and long johnson bar for the socket...and its the only belt to replace, no having to pull this belt to put that belt on then put the one you pulled off back on...just one nice simple belt!
# 3 One serp belt is simple to store, and if you loose that ******** cardboard you know which pully a serp belt fits...*****

#4 It looks much cleaner than a bunch of V belts flopping and so forth.

Is that enough reason to swap to serp? I think so!

 

[Kevin 007]

Only thing I like about em is that you don't get the alternator belt slap like you do with the v-belts. I would much rather have a v-belt set up over a serp belt. There are other things that I would put my effort into instead of swapping over.

 

[BrandonMag]

I'd say if your truck/motor had a v-belt setup from the factory keep it that way unless you have absolutely NOTHING else to spend your time and money on.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

the ONLY problem i have had with my serp system is b/c previous owners used the wrong tensioner pulley and wrong idler pulley along with wrong belt. once i got that figured out and got the CORRECT parts on it i have not had a SINGLE issue with it. if everything is in good condition in the serp system then you WILL NOT have issues with it.

 

[MUDKICKR]

ser belt setup is also self-adjusting.

 

[91idi]

I love v-belts after dealing with them for so long I can't change.

 

[IH POWER]

Im a v-belt guy.

 

[89greendiesel]

Oh I'll throw in a couple reasons...

# 1 all the v belts are together far more expensive to replace than one Serp belt
# 2 replacing one Serp belt on the side of a busy hiway, takes one socket and long johnson bar for the socket...and its the only belt to replace, no having to pull this belt to put that belt on then put the one you pulled off back on...just one nice simple belt!
# 3 One serp belt is simple to store, and if you loose that ******** cardboard you know which pully a serp belt fits...*****

#4 It looks much cleaner than a bunch of V belts flopping and so forth.

Is that enough reason to swap to serp? I think so!

eh, i appreciate the redundancy.

 

[Kevin 007]

And there is usually a lot of tension on serp belts. Too much tension for my liking, which may or may not wear out bearings quicker.

 

[dieselgiant]

Easier to drive a supercharger I can't wait to change mine over to a serp system. More for a cleaner look under the hood, and a 3G alternator

 

[icanfixall]

I might ask the question why all... And I do mean all the big car makers are running serpentine belt engines. Is it the cheaper costs. Is it the simpler idea when it comes time to replace them.... I think so.. If just the belt requires replacement then all you need is one wrench. We all know the v belt setups would kill an alternater belt before any of the others. And we all know thats the first belt installed so now you have to remove all the other 4 belts just to reach that alt belt... I don't care for all the adjusting needed to replace one belt. Serpentine belts have no way to tighten or loosen the belts. Thats done automatically for you. And the tensioner does a fine job doing that. I know with a serp belt drive we loose one belt and all stops. But most of the times when you loose the alt belt on a V belt setup you loose most of the belts anyway. Run what makes you feel good... I run the serpentine belt system because I like simplisity out on the road. I carry three spare belts. One tensioner and one idler too. PS.. I also carry one vacuum pump pulley and the tools to repalce it...

 

[DragRag]

I've been stranded when the a/c pump takes a ****. That's the down side to serp. Run back home, take a compressor of the parts truck, head back one way 1.5 hours, not fun. A/C pump goes bad on a v-belt, and all you do is cut the belt off and keep rolling. I still like both set ups though, but would never convert either type of system.