(ET) E-15 drive belt adjustment tips and tension check

[Andrew Poush <agp vt edu>]

Gents
Thanks for all your feedback the last time I wrote about possibly changing 
to synchronous drive belts and pulleys. If I had Bill Gates' money I would 
have done it for fun. But being in the child rearing years while the wife 
and I both work full time means I have to be more practical.  So I just 
followed the manual similar to what I did in the past but did a couple 
things differently this time.  First, I backed the ET up onto my auto 
ramps.  The clearance and the slope are both helpful in retensioning the 
belts.  I also used an air ratchet to tighten the nuts with one hand while 
my other was maintaining tension with the pry bar.  Lastly, I used a 
Krickit belt tensiometer from Gates Co. to measure the results.  I 
mentioned previously that one belt is looser than the other.  So the end 
result was that the tension on the belts was 20 and 30 lbf, respectively.  

For those on the list who have measured tension this way, how does that 
compare with your results?

Regards
Andy Poush