belt squealing

[michael]

Just installed a undersized aluminum water pump pulley on the 440. Only other thing on the belt is the alternator.trying to speed it up a little to cool engine on hot georgia days. Took it out Saturday to test it squeals a little during hard acceleration and ALOT during RPM drop between gear changes.pulley is real smooth aluminum, I feel the belt is good and tight,too tight can't be good on the alternator. In my 53 years I have never used a belt dressing.you guys think that should be the first step?

 

[moparleo]

Is the belt new ? Or just good and tight. If the belt has hardened from use, it will have a tendency to want to slip on any pulley especially a smooth aluminum one that you have increased the rpms on by going smaller. Question though, How is going to an undersized water pump pulley supposed to help keep the temps down ? Unless you are running a direct drive fan without a clutch, the fan will still slip some at all speeds and the increased airflow if you get if any will only help below speeds of 35-40mph ( assuming you have the proper sized radiator fan shroud) after that, more air is forced through the radiator than the fan will pull. Speeding up the water pump can actually hurt the performance of the cooling system, the same way that taking the thermostat out will. The coolant has to be in the radiator long enough to lose enough heat to cool down the engine. Most guys will change the crankshaft pulley diameter to also speed up the alternator rpm's as the old charging systems were marginal at idle speeds.

 

[DetMatt1]

Good post Leo.

 

[michael]

Of course I had to install a new belt with a smaller pulley cause I ran out of adjustment room. I know what you are saying and I can agree with your point.BUT I do have a couple of Motorhead buddies with non Mopar rides (BB GM) who have done this and havehadpositive results I.E. slightly cooler engine temp. I will try this and tell you what results I have.it's a easy fix if I do not have positive results. By the way the aluminum pulley looks REAL good on the 440!

 

[michael]

Of course I had to install a new belt with a smaller pulley cause I ran out of adjustment room. I know what you are saying and I can agree with your point.BUT I do have a couple of Motorhead buddies with non Mopar rides (BB GM) who have done this and havehadpositive results I.E. slightly cooler engine temp. I will try thia

 

[michael]

I am not tech savvy..somebody can remove my last incomplete post!