I finally ditched the AC from my wagon, and due to the condenser coil being out from in front of the radiator, the car runs a little cooler, plus I pulled out like 30 lbs of metal, including the rotational mass of what feels to be an 8-10 lb ac pulley...

 

the thing now is I only have 1 belt. it runs the alt, ps, and water pump. is this sufficient? it looks like it holds enough tension on everything. I guess time will tell. anyone else running 1 belt?

 

since the condenser is out, I also have plenty of room for my oil cooler . to be installed soon...

 

eric

You can run with one (I have), but the pulleys don’t get much wrap, especially the water pump, it could give you some trouble (like in the rain). I’d get the alt. pulley from the non-A/C car and double up, and remember to buy the belts in pairs or they’ll never last long.

 

Gary

One belt is fine. Been doing that for years now on the same belt. I also removed the power steering and ran a different length belt. Only accessories on my block now are water pump, oill pump and alternator

 

Doubleing it up with a 2 belt pulley on the alternator would be neat but not required.

let me just say, that i have seen morganms rig burried up to the timing belts in muddy slop, and i didnt hear any slippin when he was floorin it =]

i also run only one be,t with the single bolt holdin down the alt bracket, and it works great, for 25k miles now

The GL didn't have an A/C belt when I bought it (~2k miles ago) tried to put it on yesterday, found the tensioner was seized, so, still no belt, still no problems.

 

-Chux

 

HA!! just noticed that 3 of the 4 replies are from good ol' MN. hmmm...... kinda makes ya think

ran one belt out west and back, no problems to this day. if you can find a non ac alternaor bracket and a dual pulley you can run 2 of the same belt you have now

One belt is fine as I have been running one belt on the rx motor which is now in trashwagon 6. I am the new owner of the wagon so now it has been dubbed the trashwagon rx. with the rx motor, suspension and driveline in it. have about 12k on the motor whith open timing belt covers and one belt running all acc. ps, alt, water, and the oil pump whick is ran off the drivers side t-belt but still no problems

I was looking at my EA82 SPFI lastnight thinking about this thread. It looks like I could NOT put on a double belt pulley on the alternator. I would need the whole alternator with pulle if I wanted to do this. If I just swaped on a dual pulley they would not line up with the other dual belt pulles The outer most pullies line up and then the inner pulles line up with the alterantor fan built into the belt pulley.

One belt is fine. Been doing that for years now on the same belt. I also removed the power steering and ran a different length belt.

Morgan, hope you're subscribed to this thread! i just removed the power steering pump from my XT Turbo and will only be driving the alt and water pump as well. do you have any info on the exact belt you're using? length, part number, where you got it?

 

i had a terrible time getting the right belt for my non stock XT6, ended up with a 4 ribbed belt instead of the stock 6 cause they couldn't get the size i needed.

looks like the EA82 might not be as tricky.

Morgan, hope you're subscribed to this thread! i just removed the power steering pump from my XT Turbo and will only be driving the alt and water pump as well. do you have any info on the exact belt you're using? length, part number, where you got it?

 

i had a terrible time getting the right belt for my non stock XT6, ended up with a 4 ribbed belt instead of the stock 6 cause they couldn't get the size i needed.

looks like the EA82 might not be as tricky.

 

 

I have that wagon, and I'll need to pull the accessory belt on saturday anyway, so I'll try to measure it.

 

he is a member of the local jeep club (for wheeling trips), and so am I. I'll shoot him a pm and see if he remembers.

Mines been running with one belt since I bought it 17k miles ago. No troubles. I haven't removed the AC compressor or the condensor -- the compressor is apparently dead though, so the previous owner just took the belt off of it.

 

'89 GL wagon

I have run with one belt just fine and I have installed a shorter belt after a/c removal.

a carquest 7340 worked just fine for me on the 87 RX

now...the million$$$ - Q is:

with or without the AC , does you get more performance?

 

why you all took it out?

hi.

with or without the AC , does you get more performance?

why you all took it out?

 

it did not work and was in the way. might as well lighten it up a bit and make acess to other components simpler.

it did not work and was in the way. might as well lighten it up a bit and make acess to other components simpler.

 

but what about performance... can you get some HP from taking out the all AC from the car + one belt out ?

 

or it just the feeling?

but what about performance... can you get some HP from taking out the all AC from the car + one belt out ?

 

or it just the feeling?

 

mmm.... no

 

the minimal drag it would have had would really not be noticeable in my opinion. that is of course when the A/C was inop and not used.

 

it was really more about ease of acess. removing it is a pain in the rear. if it off already then no wories next time you need to get to that stupid little hose or remove the intake. thats all.

when it's not on the A/C compressor is free wheeling. assuming the bearings are good, an A/C pulley spins wildly with minimal effort....give one a try if you never have. it won't make any difference (again, assuming the a/c pulley bearings are good). removing the a/c is sometimes just a matter of the a/c not working and the pulley bearings being hosed. this will eat your belt up quick, i've had to remove the a/c belt for that reason.

 

the power steering pump causes more load on the belt system (though i'm not saying a huge amount, but more than a/c), so i removed the power steering. it added about 23 hp (ha ha!!!). i just did it for kicks really, swapped in an entire XT6 pump, rack, lines, etc. the XT6 rack is a quicker rack as well.

 

i did NOT remove the a/c so i'm mistaken in thinking that MorganM's setup was exactly like mine. i already PM'ed him with a link to this thread and his set up is different than mine, so don't bug him! but thanks Numbchux! i removed the power steering pump. so i'm left with alternator, water pump and a/c. no power steering. i'll just have to guess, thanks for all the help.

 

when i did this on an XT6 i did the "pull a string around the pulleys and measure" method and it didn't work. i measured, bought a belt and it was way too short?? maybe i can't measure?

My wagon ran cooler (about 10 deg.) when I removed the condenser...didnt notice any power gains though

the removal of the condeser makes installation of an aftermarket electric fan in front of the radiator a breeze!

or an oil cooler! oh, the possibilities!

or an oil cooler! oh, the possibilities!

 

or an FMIC, if you swing that way