A bit of noise when I started up this morning. The serpentine belt is loose.

I think the tensioner has sort of gone all the way past full tension to a point where it is not tensioning the belt.

Looking from the front the arm that the tensioner is on is at about the 7 o'clock position. I think it should be at about 10 o'clock to tension the belt.

Any suggestions?

How do you move the tensioner? I can see what appears to be a square hole on the arm, out at the axis of the pulley, but it seems a tad larger than a 3/8" square drive.

Any help appreciated.

 

My tensioner sits around 7-8 o clock. Mine rattled a bunch, so I replaced it. It is a simple fix. Just remove the belt, take off the tensioner using a socket wrench on the nut at the base of the arm where it connects, put on the new one, and get a second set of hands to pull back on the tensioner, while you slide the belt into place.

A 1/2" socket wrench fits right into that square, and you can use that to control the tension when putting it back on/off.

The tensioner should cost about $30 at autozone

 

Thanks. At this point I just want to get tension on the belt so that I can drive the truck. So I'll try a 1/2" drive ratchet or breaker bar tomorrow.

At this point the tensioner has moved as far as it can counter-clockwise and is putting no tension on the belt. It somehow skipped right over the tension on the belt position.

So I need to move it counter clockwise with the ratchet with the belt out of the way. Then move the belt into position, and then release the tensioner to push on the belt.

You mention the 7 o'clock position but mine should be at about 10 0'clock to apply tension. I wonder if yours being a '05 is the difference?

 

The tensioner should be an automatic tensioner. You cannot tighten or loosen it. You simply can move the tensioner to remove the belt, but if you dont have any wrench on the tensioner, it moves itself into place.

 

It's automatic.. spring loaded tensioner.. if it's loose, you either have a bad tensioner or stretched belt. Put 3/8" socket wrench in that square hole and push down on on the ratchet to remove tension on the belt. You can look here at my How-to.. Steps 1-6 shows how to get the belt off: https://www.ranger-forums.com/engine...nstall-120525/

 

So in fact it wasn't a tensioner problem. The harmonic balancer and drive pulley had fallen off. The rubber part was completely sheared.

But somehow the belt had remained in place.

I also discovered that the reason I couldn't move the tensioner was that I was moving it in the wrong direction.

Some comments from the mechanics indicate that this is known problem for late model Rangers, and Ford is completely out of stock of spares.

So going aftermarket.

Could have been worse I suppose.

Thanks everyone.