M1009 Power Steering Belt Replacement

Had to replace the Power Steering Belt today on my M1009. Is it just me or is the process to replace the power steering belt a pain in the ask?

After messing with the power steering pump and bracket for about 20 minutes trying to get the belt on, I printed out a couple of the pages from the TM 9-2320-289-20, which describes how to replace the pump/belt etc... After another 20 minutes of moving everything around to try to get the belt on, nothing.......

No matter how I tried, I couldn't get the belt over the crank pulley, water pump pulley and the power steering pump pulley. I finally had to remove the 4 nuts holding the fan on. I removed the fan and fan pulley so could get the belt on.

Once I did this I was able to position the power steering belt and the 2 alternator belts on and tenision them.

I was using the correct belt, 7448, as listed in the CUCV FAQ section.

Did I miss something?

I had to install the belt behind the lower pulley and put it on the rest of the pulleys first, then with a little coaxing it went on.

Yup, same thing. Run it behind the balancer pulley, then on the PS pump. You can also totally remove the bottom adjusting bolt to give it a little extra pivot. Definately PITA.

Tell me about it. For some reason, whoever did the 12 volt conversion on this truck...deleted the passenger alternator and left the drivers side on instead. I have to take the alternator off just to get a good spot for leverage when tightening the power steering belt. Its a pain to try and do from the bottom. One of these days I'm going to move the alternator to the other side.

Just searched up this thread after spending 30 minutes trying to get the PS belt off. I could cut it off, but I'd still have to get the new one on. Crazy. Even if I could get the belt on, I'm not sure how to go about tensioning it. Is there a location to pry, or are you just supposed to be strong enough to pull it?

refer to my previous post as to how I did it. There is a GM tensioner you can buy for the PS belt; but I just used a pry bar on the bracket.

Red_506 said:

refer to my previous post as to how I did it. There is a GM tensioner you can buy for the PS belt; but I just used a pry bar on the bracket.

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Do you mean in this thread? If so, how do you get the old belt off?

If I remember correctly I just rolled it off using a pry bar after loosening the power steering bracket.

I've done mine at least 3 times. First time when I bought the truck, 2nd time when I was getting the truck ready for a close to 1,000 mile drive, and last time around August or so when I realized I picked up the wrong belts the 2nd time. The second time I couldn't even get the PS belt on. And that was a pretty bulked up "helper." Last time I did it was at the place of an old family friend. This guy's an old-school mechanical genius. You bring it to him, I guarantee you, he can either fix it or at last figure out what's wrong. Here's pretty much how it went getting the PS belt on: "What's taking you so long?" "I'm trying to get the power steering belt on." "Yeah, those are always a pain..." I finally managed to get it on by unbolting the pump, putting the belt on the pump pulley and the other end between the balancer and the other pulley. A little prying on that end and I had it on.

This is an easy one! Once you know where everything's hiding and what tools to use, it's a simple 5 minute job.

For alternator belts because I have a PTO governor control on my particular CUCV, I can't use the prybar trick. I have to use a special tool to tension my alt belts. I have no choice, But on a M1009, you can probably get away with just using a prybar so this is an optional tool.
Lisle 12400 (Pics in that thread are dead, so here's a fresh pic)

Now, for the PS pump, I cannot emphasize enough - DO NOT use a prybar. It usually puts a big 'ol dent in the reservoir and you can possibly fudge up the pump housing itself in the process. I've seen a couple pumps ruined this way.

There's two ways to do it.
Method 1) From the top, loosen all hardware and you can use this tool with a 1/2" breaker bar to pry the bracket. (If link dies, tool is a Thexton 383 GM/Saginaw PS pump tensioner)

Or.. there's another way that requires no special tools and it's actually easier IMO.

Method 2):

Hardware : Three fasteners total, two are under the hood.
-Loosen the nut/stud where the PS bracket meets the front of the block (the main pivot)
-Loosen the bolt towards the outside of the bracket (easy to see from under hood)

Next grab a 15mm wrench (IIRC) and a 16" adjustable, or the next closest size adjustable wrench you own that qualifies as "big".
Look up from *underneath* the truck and you'll see another bolt on the backside going into a big square nut welded to part of the PS bracket. (this fastener is not visible from under hood, you have to look up from underneath to see it), That bolt goes through an elongated slot similar to the one in you alternator bracket. It's the one that does most of the adjustment, the other two fasteners (the ones you loosened from up top) just kinda help pin it down in place.

For the record, a Klein 16" adjustable spud wrench (ironworker's adjustable spud) works perfectly on that square nut doodad welded to the 'leg" you'll see coming off the back of the pump bracket.

Once you loosen that bolt from underneath, you should be able to grab that square lug with an adjustable wrench which will give you enough leverage to be able to rock the whole bracket assy/pump either way to loosen/tighten the belt. If the pump doesn't move easily, you missed a bolt or nut, so go back and make sure there's not any hardware that I missed describing in the above procedure.

Once the belt is tight where you want it, tighten down that bottom/back bolt while holding tension with the adj wrench and it should stay put. Go up top/under hood to tighten down other two fasteners. Double check for proper belt tension after all fasteners are tightened (readjust if necessary). P/S pump belt is now good to go.

Above description should be good enough for you to figure out from there, but If you need pics, just ask and I'll post some. I don't know what the TM says (I rarely consult it for anything other than wiring diagrams) but It's a relatively drama free procedure once you know how to get at that bottom bolt and that little square lug.


Hth, Matt

Red_506 said:

If I remember correctly I just rolled it off using a pry bar after loosening the power steering bracket.

Click to expand...

Pop the belt of the back towards the engine then remove it off the other pulleys. Of course after you have loosened everything as much as possible. I did mine by just loosening the other pulley and laying under just pulled the belt towards the motor once its off the bottom you should be good.

Okay, I got it. Yes, the tricks were: (1) first push the belt off the pulley toward the engine on the bottom/crank pulley. I didn't see from the top, but that pulley has a lot of space on the engine side, unlike the others. This makes removal a snap, (2) for tightening, the square bolt idea works great. Put a big wrench on there and go for it. It's easiest with someone on top to tighten things up, but one person can pull it off. I put a box wrench on the lower bolt on top, then reached around and grabbed it from underneath.

How tight should these belts be? This truck has always had the belts vibrating around alot with the engine idling. Is this normal, or should I crank the tension until it stops? I don't want to fry any bearings.

Nice tutorial. Thanks !

Sam27 said:

How tight should these belts be?

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I know this is an old thread, but it helped me today, so I thought I'd answer the hanging question, for the record.
Per TM 9-2320-289-20:

• 67 lbs for an old belt.
• For a new belt, 146lbs for alternator and power steering, 169lbs for the A/C compressor (M1010). Run engine for 15 minutes, then adjust to 67 lbs.

Matt1031 said:

This is an easy one! Once you know where everything's hiding and what tools to use, it's a simple 5 minute job.
...
Hth, Matt

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Thank you very much! This helped me a great deal!!!