taz3

I recently had to change an alternator and the hardest part was removing the belt, in order to do so, the engine mount needs to be removed. I took the alternator from my parts HHR and cut the belt, because it was all cracked anyway, and I had the alternator out 5 minutes. When my son mentioned his Cobalt will need a new belt, we realized it was the same as the HHR, so I made a tool to release the tensioner to remove the belt. It now takes 2 minutes rather then an hour.

Here it is in place on a spare 2.2l engine, you slide it on and simply lift to re;ease belt tension.




Here's just the tool, the 3/8 breaker bar doesn't go in with ease, because the mount is in the way, so it's been replaced by the tool I made, that will slip on in a couple seconds, between the frame and engine.

BQS4

Could you provide a dimensional drawing, for those of us who would like to make our own.

taz3

Here you go, a pencil drawing and one more pic to show the step to grab the bottom of the tensioner arm on the back side. You don't really need the top 10" section, I just figured I already had it and it gives a great leverage advantage.

Any questions, ask and I'll do my best to explain.



This pic shows the step I welded to grab the tensioner from the underside.

Oldblue

The mother of invention!

donbrew

You couldn't just weld a bit of 3/8 square stock (at the correct angle) to a lever?

That's the problem with the available tools, the darned angle is wrong. If the 3/8 was set at 45 instead of 90 to the tool it would work, better if not well.

Not criticizing, just commenting. If it works, it works. I do not have a welder.

taz3

I thought about welding one at a 45º, but you still need to find the hole blind and push it in, which can be a challenge in itself! lol! I figured if I do it as a slip on, as I did, it only takes a fraction of the time with little to no aligning anything blind.

Blue_SS

As I'm sure you know, her name is Necessity...

black Tara

Amazing what we can do when we set our minds to it:)