Yanmar 6lp Alternator belt change

[paulbrown22]

Is there a trick to doing this?

I thought it was time for change, as I don't know the age of the belts on it currently. I took off the power steering belt, and loosened the alternator adjustment screw to shift it inwards, assuming they would then just lift on and off.

I can easily lift the old belts off then, but the new ones are very tight to get over the alternator pulley, having gone round the other pulleys. Admittedly, I was working in the dark which maybe didn't help...

I did attempt to get equivalent Toyota 1HD belts rather than the expensive Yanmar ones, so do I maybe have the wrong ones (they look to be the same size, but haven't measured/counted them exactly), or are they meant to be quite a tight fit new, and I need to use something to help lever them onto the alternator pulley?

Thanks,

Paul

[beamishken]

I use Toyota belts on mine and they fit but the adjuster doesn't move much so you may need to turn the crank while you wind the belts on as the pulleys are deep

[paulbrown22]

Thanks Ken - I'll look tomorrow when it's light and try that, and hopefully they will go on!

Given how deep the pulleys are, the belts certainly look to be the perfect size once they are bedded in, just quite a tight squeeze on.

[paulbrown22]

Gently rotating the crank and using some screwdrivers to help the belts over and into the pulley grooves worked beautifully, now both installed. Thanks Ken for the advice!

Have ordered a power steering belt now as well, then I know every belt on the engine has been changed recently, as we did the timing belt two years ago.

[cptsideways]

On Landcruisers there is a second bolt at the base of the alternator you need to release to change them. I think 6LP's are the same?

[paulbrown22]

There's the main, long mounting bolt at the bottom, but having released the tensioning bolt, the alternator pivots freely around it. I did remove the lower mounting bolt, and indeed the whole alternator, but various pipes and mountings meant that even doing that didn't help - the alternator couldn't get any closer to the block, and angling it made it impossible to get back in the mounting.