[TR] TR4 Fan Belt Replacement

[Dave1massey at cs.com]

In a message dated 5/4/2010 8:18:57 AM Central Daylight Time, 
tr4driver at gmail.com writes: 
> During the process of changing the fan belt on my TR4 last night, I
> discovered that the spare belt I've been carrying in my trunk has
> merely been taking up space.  There is no way that change was ever
> gonna happen on the side of the road!  I had to loosen the front
> engine mounts and jack the engine up to get the necessary clearance
> between the fan extension piece and the steering rack.  After looking
> back through some old messages on the list, I assume this is typical.
> 
Yes, it is.  I managed to change one on the side of the road but I had to 
notch the belt to clear the extension/rack interference.  (Obviously I put in 
another belt under more controlled circumstances soon thereafter)  I was 
able to change the TR3 fan belt on the side of the road quite easily.  One 
would assume that the problem with the TR4 was the fact that the steering rack 
was retrofitted to what is basically a TR3 frame.  Then one would look at 
the TR6 and see that given the opportunity to fix the problem when making the 
necessary changes for the new engine, the designers decided to carry on the 
now quaint tradition of not allowing sufficient clearance to change the 
belt.  Harumph.

Dave