why is my truck eating belts???

JoshH

Daggum farm truck
Staff member
Vendor/Sponsor
Feb 14, 2007
13,714
776
113
Texas!!!
Your truck is hungry? Seriously though, what kind of tensioner did you put on it? If it wasn't a factory GM, that may be part of your problem. I have heard Dayco makes a really good quality heavy duty tensioner too.
 

Dirtymaxx03

Active member
Aug 4, 2009
3,109
1
38
If you put a non OEM tensioner on it I can almost guarantee that's your problem. I had a real bad problem with my truck shredding belts. Put a tensioner from napa on it and the problem continued. Then I went to GM and dropped 115 bucks on a OEM tensioner and that solved the problem.
 

Bryce418

Still slow
Oct 5, 2009
611
0
0
If you put a non OEM tensioner on it I can almost guarantee that's your problem. I had a real bad problem with my truck shredding belts. Put a tensioner from napa on it and the problem continued. Then I went to GM and dropped 115 bucks on a OEM tensioner and that solved the problem.

One of my co-workers was having similar issues, we put on a Gm tensioner (used) and added a idler on the lower left side and he hasn't had a belt die since.
 

coker6303

Keep Calm and Chive On!!
Aug 6, 2009
2,484
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Houston, TX
there are some things that OEM is a must. Chinese can't duplicate everything and make it reliable! Lol

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
 

Noreaster

Active member
Jun 13, 2007
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Cape Cod,MA
I run the Dayco on both of my trucks, I haven't thrown a belt since I swapped
I was throwing belts with a brand new Gm tensioner
seemed like the majority of the time the belt jumped was downshifting and RPMs jumping
 

moss

<--good vibrations
Dec 15, 2008
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sandwich, il
has nothing to do with aftermarket tensioners. there are 2 different "pulleys" on the tensioners. one has just ribs(usually not the one you want), the other have like a collar on each end of the pulley that the belt fits inbetween. i believe the rib spacing is different between the 2. make sure the pulley on the tentioner looks just like the one on the old one. there are 2 different ones!!
 

Rhall

Old Skooler
Aug 12, 2006
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Texas Y'all
Are you getting your belts from gm or a parts store? Oriellys belts are a hair bigger than gms for an lb7. They will work fine on a stock truck, but not on a modded truck. 4 or 5 years ago i went through 3 or 4 belts before i put one from gm on and didnt have anymore problem.s
 

Bryce418

Still slow
Oct 5, 2009
611
0
0
My co- worker had gone through a couple napa tensioners until we stuck the GM one I had on it. The napa one we replaced was about three months old and had already developed some slop in it the GM one had 90k on it, I'll let you guys come to your own conclusions about quality.


Right after we did that we also added a idler on the lower right corner of the block between the crank and the tensioner, he hadn't had any issues but we could see the belt flutter if we revved and lifted.