I've had an idea for a while, that I've been toying with, but haven't had the time really to do any checking into it. The belts on my truck constantly squeal. I have to adjust them at least once a week, and they go right back to squealing withing a few days. Ive tried belt dressing, and it helped for a week or so, then went right back to squealing. Tried different belts, same thing. I even tried wire brushing the pulleys and cleaning them with brake cleaner. Went right back to squealing in a few days.

So I got to thinking, what if I could put a serpentine belt on here? Got to looking at some pictures of other ranger engines, the 3.0 was close, but not quite like the 2.8. Then I saw the 4.0 is almost exactly the same setup as the 2.8. All the accessories are in the same general location on the engine, but they're all in a straight line, not offset like the 2.8, and the 4.0 has an automatic belt tensioner. So I'm thinking, would it be possible to snag the mounting brackets and pulleys from a 4.0, and bolt them up to my 2.8? Or if anyone has tried it?

I'm going to take some measurements and cut out a few templates to compare the mounting brackets with to see if they will even bolt up before I go buying a bunch of parts. I cant imagine that I would be the ONLY person to have ever thought of this though.

 

i think that 4.0 and the 2.9 are basically the same engine inside and possibly the block get a book on the ford v6 and im sure you could figure it out. and the book is good reading anywho

JOSH