Belt replacement

[LaMonte Monnell]

I have a 2001 Beaver Contessa with a 3126B CAT motor. I changed the serpentine belt a year ago myself but it took me forever. The water pump belt had just been changed so didn't do it.

Now I think the water pump belt should be replaced, it seems ok but nervous about being on the road with it. I guess by looking the serpentine has to be removed to get the water pump belt replaced, true?

How hard is this to do and should I just let CAT do it.. only 10 minutes away from my house.

[Edward Buker]

LaMonte,

I do not know what is involved in replacing that belt on that motor but I saw this write up...

Beware of removing/loosening the two bolts that hold the water pump tensioner to the front cover of a CAT 3126. With 60K miles on a 1999 Beaver, it was time to replace the water pump belt and check the pulley bearing. When removing the tensioner pivot bolt (not the one that rides in the arc'd slot), it broke and now I've got a big problem. After it broke, I realized the bolt hole is a through-hole and I should have hit the back side of the bolt hole with PB Blaster. Drilling out from the front may be impossible; drilling from the back side may be doable but water pump will have to be removed. If anybody else has been through this, please chime in. So far my experience has been CAT does not know what anti-seize compound is.

 Dave
 1999 Beaver Contessa
 CAT 3126B

I do not know if this post has the same configuration that you have or not but thought it might help. If the belt has cracking or the rubber looks or feels aged it may be wise to change it out. Gates/Napa has what they call Fleetrunner green stripe belts which will last significantly longer. They cost just a few dollars more and are well worth it. Take your current belt numbers and see if they can cross the numbers if you go ahead with this.

Later Ed