I put in a new AC belt on my wife's 96 Voyager yesterday - the old one broke. Anyway, when I tightened it up I would say I jacked up the pulley with the jack screw maybe 30% of what I had loosened it (just based on how long it took me to get it loose enough to get the new belt on versus how quickly it seemed to tighten up). It's almost seems like the new belt must actually be a little shorter than the old one.

It's hard to measure that 5/16th play and it's a pretty tight area to work in even with my stubby ratchet. The AC works fine now - can I just check it every few weeks and tighten it if the new belt stretches with use?

TIA

 

Sounds like a plan. Most of the stretching will occur in the first month or so.