Belt tension on a 01 5.3 engine??

[ScottyBoy]

About a year or so ago, I replaced my alternator pulley with a smaller one to gain a little more amperage at idle (since I had converted my truck to E-fans).
This ended up putting some more slack in the serpentine belt. So much slack that on cold mornings I would sometimes hear the belt squealing until the engine warmed up a bit. I would also hear my belt squeal or chirp a bit on very fast acceleration, mainly when the transmission shifted gears at high RPMs. Fast forward to now....
I just changed my belts and all belt tensioners and the idler puller. I decided to go with the shorter belt that would come on a truck with a 105a alternator. It's 3/4 inch shorter. The shorter belt fits, but the belt tensioner is stretched over basically almost as far as it will stretch. Is this a bad thing? Or will I be ok running it like this?
My neighbor claims I will destroy my belt tensioner. I honestly have no idea if this will hurt anything. I figured it would be better with the belt tighter?

 

[Jared]

it can wear pulley out

 

[Ginger]

i cant see how its going to hurt you, the spring holds the same tension throughout its range it might have a little more tension now, but nothing thats gonna kill you, and after you drive it a few weeks the belt is gonna stretch some anyway

 

[HackMcMaster]

tell your neighbor to gdiaff, agree with gingy about belt lengthening

 

[Jared]

you really don't think the tensioner can wear out prematurely this way?

 

[Ginger]

the spring can only pull so hard jared. from the middle of the range to the max, it pulls the same amount of tension.

plus as the belt stretches it will get closer to the middle which it the ideal place for it.

 

[Jared]

when things are maxed out, they tend to fail a lot faster, just sayin...was a legitimate question

 

[Jared]

I know from experience that too tight of a belt, and too loose of a belt can cause failure on machinery. I'm just guessing that the same probability is likely on the tensioner.

 

[ScottyBoy]

Jared, I was wondering too. Tis why I asked this question. It's not 100% maxxed out, but I'd say it's at least 80% maxxed out. Perhaps Ginger is somewhat correct. Regardless, I think I will keep my old tensioner in my toolbox just in case this one does end up wearing out really fast. Then I will at least have a working emergency replacement tensioner.

 

[marc]

i am sure it will cause more wear on the bearings, same thing is when you replace and old belt and put a new belt on it is tighter then the previous belt and can cause premature wear on other pulleys.

i am sure its fine, but the further a spring is compressed the more force it puts on the belt.

and since the alternator is running faster all the time will that not wear it out quicker ?

 

[Ginger]

i am sure it will cause more wear on the bearings, same thing is when you replace and old belt and put a new belt on it is tighter then the previous belt and can cause premature wear on other pulleys.

i am sure its fine, but the further a spring is compressed the more force it puts on the belt.

and since the alternator is running faster all the time will that not wear it out quicker ?

tell me how when you have a spring loaded tensioner that changing the belt will make it tighter.

the belt should have no factor in that because the tensioner is whats making the belt tight.

and like scotty said, its not maxed out, and its not like the old school v belts where there is a slot and you tighten it manually, it has a spring loaded tensioner, it cant put any more of a tension on it than what the spring will.

 

[marc]

tell me how when you have a spring loaded tensioner that changing the belt will make it tighter.

the belt should have no factor in that because the tensioner is whats making the belt tight.

and like scotty said, its not maxed out, and its not like the old school v belts where there is a slot and you tighten it manually, it has a spring loaded tensioner, it cant put any more of a tension on it than what the spring will.

the further a spring is compressed the more force it puts on the belt.

physics bra

 

[Ginger]

its not a compression spring, its twisting spring. and i can show you dyno charts where springs can be flat same rate compression from 1/2" to coil bind.

depends on if its a progressive spring or not.

know what your talking about brah

 

[marc]

its not a compression spring, its twisting spring. and i can show you dyno charts where springs can be flat same rate compression from 1/2" to coil bind.

depends on if its a progressive spring or not.

know what your talking about brah

i know on my duramax the further i pull the tensioner the harder it gets....

 

[HackMcMaster]