, I used. A could've been slightly easier, but since it stays on the bolt the whole time it doesn't really matter. A https://www.mactools.com/products/xt50bss would've helped more since the rachet will go on/off the 6 Torx crank pulley bolts at least a dozen times.

 

I've never had an issue with battery and I used the tool back to back without starting the car

 

So today I installed the crank pulley and new belt. It was a pain in the neck, but I felt it went well. The car started and idled fine. I took it for a spin up the road. About 3 miles from my house, I noticed some smoke coming from under the hood. I opened the hood, and it appeared the smoke was coming from the VAP belt and bit of belt material was on the supercharger. I attempted to limp it back home. About a mile from home I heard a pop, but no check engine light or other indications of trouble until I tried to stop. I had no power brakes but I was going very slowly so managed to stop. I continued nursing it home where it is now parked. I opened the hood and there is no belt on the supercharger, and I’m guessing the other belt is off too considering the loss of power brakes.

I was fully prepared to have my next post be “If I can do it anyone can” but apparently that isn’t the case

 

Did you take a picture beforehand to confirm you routed the belt properly? It's not difficult to do wrong.

 

I did not take a picture as it is practically impossible to see anything. I did pull up a picture from the web and routed the belt as shown in the picture.

 

Yikes, that sucks. I'm about ready to do the job and I appreciate the warning. This makes me think of a neighbors car, where the serpentine belt shredded itself over a short period of time. We never did figure out why. He put a replacement belt on and it worked just fine. Strangely, I saw the belt before it completely failed and it was installed correctly and on the pulleys. But it would walk itself off the forward edge of the pulleys, while peeling apart.

 

So sorry to hear that! There are 2 things to reconfirm which I'm certain you would've already checked, but regardless:

• the new belt is seated correctly on all the pulleys. When I installed the new belt (my kit was from ET, not VAP) which was extremely taught, it was very easy for the belt to end up 1 rib off on one pulley or another. If I hadn't looked very closely I would've missed it, and shredded the belt.
• you received the pulley version matching the offset of your OEM (in add'n to black vs silver, OEM black's mounting surface is slightly raised vs OEM silver's mounting surface is slightly indented. The first 2 brand new Gates belts I used each chirped after a few miles which made me triple-check that my pulleys weren't somehow misaligned (they weren't, as can be seen; also mine was OEM black with the raised mounting surface).

 

Much more wear on one side

So I pulled the pan again. The accessory belt is still on and appears intact. Since the supercharger belt is showing significantly more wear on one side than the other, I’m going to assume I didn’t have it installed all the way on one set of teeth on one of the pulleys.

The thing that has bothered me most is when the belt broke I had virtually no brakes at all. I was in a self imposed limp home mode anyway but otherwise it would have been extremely dangerous. When I pulled off the rear felt cover, I found this

I have no idea where it came from but I’m assuming it’s a vacuum line connection.

Does anyone have any idea where I should start looking for the other side of this?

It’s beginning to seem like it would have been worth the $680 to have it installed.

 

I found the broken hose and ran the part number through google. It is the brake servo hose. Is this something that is easily replaced?

 

that happened to me too! My belt didn't quite sit on the lower pulley, then the rubber rubbed off and it smelled!
is also a really stupid job in my mind....

 

Looking back, I'm glad I happened to go with the kit that uses a single-sided v-belt, despite the add'l 5 minutes to swap to a smooth idler. 1-sided belts come in myriad lengths from multiple manufacturers, enabling me to find the perfect length for my car and replicated factory tightness. When it's not overly tight, I could slip the belt on with ease - which at the same time made the belt naturally sit correctly on every pulley during install.

The 1475 accompanying the kit was too tight, 1485's optimal for my '16 R, others were too long. Wish I had these on hand when first installing...

 

Have you Stage 2 or 3?
The longest Belt from VAP is perfect for Stage 3 I think, with the New upper pulley with many grip and the long Belt without any problems at the moment...

 

I don't know if this helps any but the VAP supplied belt for my Stage 3 tune was 8DPK1470.

 

I'm at Stage 2, perhaps next Black Friday sale

 

I am in Phoenix and the shops here that I called wanted around $1500-$1600 which seems insane to swap the pulley. $680 is reasonable.

 

I have stage 2 with the long belt 1470, but VAP told me, I need for Stage 3 the shorter one! Mh, what is now the right belt?
I have a better feeling with the long belt 1470 and the Stage 3, but this combination is also extreme strong.
almost no slack for the belt. The suspension travel is in the last third in my view. with the better pulley at the top, which has
significantly more grip, the 1470 belt should definitely work. where is the information that the 1470 long belt must be used for Stage 3?

 

I'd agree, my Stage 3 upper and lower pulley installation that included removal of the supercharger, complete replacement of the supercharger oil and re-shim of the bearing before re-installation cost me $1,100 in July 2022 (Chicago area).

 

Just trying to help here and clarify. I don't know what car you have but my Stage 3 tune that used the 1470 belt was the 3.0 L engine with the black lower pulley. It has been flawless since installation.

 

R AWD 5.0 with the silver OEM Pulley...

 

Just an update. When I originally installed the pulley and new belt, I must not have had it seated fully on one of the idlers. There was a bit of a witness mark where it rubbed. When the belt snapped, it swung around and broke the 90 degree fitting from the top of the vacuum pump and destroyed the vacuum line. To get things back on track, I ordered a vacuum line from Jagbits (great service), a “long” 1470 belt from VAP and a super cheap vacuum pump from parts geek.

The 1470 mm belt was too short, so I ordered a 1485 mm belt. I took the 90 degree plastic fitting off of the super cheap pump and replaced the fitting on the original, factory pump and replaced the vacuum line. Everything was installed today and seems to be working well.

All in, the additional parts were about $400 so still cheaper than taking to a shop.

Many thanks to OxFXR for the assistance. A true legend.