1989 300TE Belt Install?

[lorin]

My 1989 300TE blew the belt.
Have a new belt almost installed but cannot see what to loosen to get belt on (then re-tighten). The idler pulley(1) "tensioner" is buried. Owner's Manual makes it look easy saying start at the idler pully(1) then ... but does not say what to loosen-- ha ha on me. My Chevy truck has the idler right up on top and is easy to retract.

 

[Leylandp76]

I have an 87 300TE with climate control, and other extras which gives me an 8 pulley setup not illustrated in Haynes (they illustrate 5-7 pulleys only, totally different). If yours is similar to mine this is what I have worked out so far:

The tensioner shown in Haynes has an external spring which is different from mine, which appears to have an interal spring. To loosen the tensioner you undo the 17mm bolt in the centre of the tensioner pulley, however then you have to get enough preload on the pulley when refitting the new belt. Perhaps better is to use the bolt with 2" long reverse threaded nut which seems to exist purely for pulling the tensioner back - it's situated next to the water pump.

While on the subject can anyone please help me with the pulley order on an 8 pulley setup? I took mine off without mapping it, confident that the diagrams in Haynes would help but they don't show my arrangement or anything like it

Also appreciated would be advice on the correct method of resetting the tension on the tensioner so that I have the correct belt tension. Haynes is typically useless in this regard as well. In fact I think the only reason I buy Haynes is so I can claim to have looked there first before coming to forums like this to ask for help :?