Remove belt on water pump 7.4 merc

[larrytbull]

Hi,

i was able to replace the v belt on my 95 da 330 with 7.4 Inboard (V drive) engine. The first (top ) belt went easy. But i was un able to figure out how to remove the bottom belt. I was able to loosen the small pully to get enough slack to take belt off pully but i could not remove it due to the larger pully above. is there a secret to this, or must I remove the top pully (lot of work:smt089)


thanks

 

[rondds]

Larry
I think I know what you're going through. I had to take the raw water pump off it's bracket to get enough slack to replace the shorter belt. Once the pump is removed, it's easy to replace the belt. You might have to pull off one hose that limits access to the top bolt that holds the pump to the block - if you're fresh water cooled, this means dumping some coolant (messy). Easier than taking the pulley off, I think.

Also, when you replace these belts, the short belt has to go on FIRST, than the longer belt.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[J Levine]

I have the same motors. You have to remove the pulley off the engine mounted water pump to get the belt off. The pulley has three or four bolts that hold it on. Not hard to do.

 

[rondds]

If that works, do it! Cleaning up spilled coolant is a real PITA!
Now you tell me that trick, Jon.

 

[J Levine]

I think you and I have had this conversation and our motors are different in this area. The pulley on the water pump is so close to the pulley on the crankshaft that you can not get the damn belt between them to remove or replace it without removing one of the pulleys. Again, I think yours is different.

 

[rondds]

The v-belt from the main engine pulley to my raw water pump is very short too. The channel on both pulleys are so deep that the belt cannot be pulled off, even with the pump loosened up and fully "retracted." When I changed the impeller, I had new belts ready to go. Problem was that I put the pump back on with the old belt still dangling in place on the engine pulley. SO...off comes the alternator belt (which, I think is on the outside of the main pulley), off comes the pump and only then could I take off the shorty for replacement. That was a pain but by then, I had gotten pretty good at standing on my head and I grew accustomed to the lack of blood in the extremities.:smt101

 

[larrytbull]

sigh, it loks like the pully has to come off..... maybe I will wait till winter to replace belt