1997 3500, This is the 3rd serpentine belt I've been through in 4,000 miles. First one was chewed, replaced it. Second one chewed up, read on here to change entire tensioner. Changed tensioner and put gatorback on, lasted awhile and now chewed up again.

I can see the belt wandering back and forth. Could I need another tensioner? I read on here a guy bought another tensioner, from Autozone or Advanced I think, even though his was new and it solved his problem. No other pulleys seem to be a problem.

Thanks in advance,
Ryan

 

I've had bad luck with gatorbacks- have you tried a belt that is ribbed, but not cross-ribbed? Because you are having a repeat issue, it sounds like the tensioner itself isn't the problem, but something else- have you checked to see if all of the other pulleys are in line?

 

Thanks for the quick reply Hodge.

I've used 3 different types of belts including the gatorback. All of them chewed up. The gatorback is the one I put on after doing the tensioner.

How do I tell if pulleys are aligned? I feel like it could be possibly linked to my AC, because it's so intermittent on how long a belt will last. The AC pulley seems good though.

I'm stumped!

 

Thats a strange problem...My idler was bad also....I replaced both of them 6 years ago with the dayton idler and belt...No problems so far...

 

First place I look for a problem nowdays is at new parts.
Quality control seems non existent anymore, parts are bad out of the box.
I'd suspect the tensioner.

 

I'm leaning towards a new tensioner also, mainly because of how the belt wanders back and forth.

Thanks for the replies

 

My vote is the tensioner as well. Went thru the same problem awhile back. Bought one at Napa. It was some Chinese crap. Went over to Autozone and found the same one that was on it previously. Money and no more problems. Like Infidel says quality control is non-existent these days. New bad parts right out of the box.