Having difficulty replacing drive belt on '98 V6 Mustang ...

[progdonkey]

I wonder if anyone can help me with this. It's apparently supposed to be very simple, but I'm having so much difficulty with it, that I'm sure I must be doing something wrong.

I'm trying to replace the drive belt on my Mustang, but the tensioner arm is providing way too much trouble for me. I got the old belt off by pressing down on the belt, thereby lifting up the tensioner arm, and got the belt out from around the pulleys. But now I'm trying to put the new one on and the tensioner is providing all kinds of hassle.

I have a Haynes Mustang repair manual, but it's left me even more confused, because it says, "To replace the belt, insert a 1/2 inch breaker bar or ratchet into the square hole located in the tensioner body (see illustration). Rotate the tensioner clockwise to relieve the tension on the belt." The thing is, the tensioner arm looks like it needs to go counter-clockwise in order to provide room for the belt to go around. Furthermore, the illustration is almost unintelligible, because the breaker bar is inserted into something that's right on the tensioner pulley itself (and it also doesn't help that they didn't bother to remove the radiator hose, which covers about a third of the photo--and almost all of the important part).

How do I get the tensioner arm up so I can get the drive belt around it? Should I get a second person to help me, or, when done right, should it be a one-person job?

Thanks!

[progdonkey]

1. nevermind... :-) n/t