SOOOOO where to start, basically quite a few months ago i was having some belt problems, it all started when i was cruising down the highway at 55ish mph, and a belt shredded on me, so i went and bought a new one and it worked fine for about, 2 days then the sucker would NOT stay on AT ALL, not even for 30 seconds, so i took the belt back got a new one, replaced the tensioner, and replaced the idler pulley, worked fine, just squealed like hell for quite some time, so recently i decided i was sick of the ear pearcing squeal and went and bought the best belt autozone had, only to figure out, the thing WILL NOT stay on, so i threw my old belt back on, and now it jumps over links, so i was looking and i realized my tensioner is kicked way out further towards the fan than all the other pulleys, so i went to autozone and had them pull me a 5.2 and 5.9 tensioner, both were the same, and we held them up, and they were exactly the same, both were kicked out too far vs my other pulleys, same story at advanced auto.. im pretty clueless right about now... suggestions? i work built on to a shop and had them check it out today and they said its definitely on right and looks fine, the thing is brand new, i have no idea what the hell is wrong with it

 

Maybe the belt is too long and when it popped off that one time the fan caught it.

 

grab ahold of your water pump pulley and try to wiggle it around. is it tight, or is it the problem ?

here's some pics. they're a little small, but see if it helps. from the mounting bracket, the back of the belt is 4-1/2 inches out.

 

could one of the accessories like a/c, water pump, etc. be failing? I would take the belt off (which sounds like it's automatic at this point..hehe.) and give everything a good spin and wiggle to see if anything is suspect. also check the crank pully, I think the rubber can start to squeeze out and cause a wiggle while spinning.

 

the parts that you measured im coming up with just a hair under 5 inches out, somethings not right

 

do you want measurements of any of the components ?

 

well im not even sure what exactly would be off by a half inch, thats not a small amount when we're talking about a belt alignment here, tomorrow ill probably take the tensioner off and go see about swapping it out just to try it and see what happens, even if that bracket bent that the coil is mounted to it wouldnt be a half inch off, or id hope not, but the bracket looks and feels completely fine, and isnt exactly easy to bend, so im pretty lost, my only idea is that they boxed the wrong tensioner or something, i guess ill try that first

 

look at how the tensioner mounts to the black bracket.
the tensioner has a threaded stud, which is inserted into the bracket.
the tensioner sits flush against the bracket.

make sure that your tensioner sits flush, and is not spaced off the bracket for some reason.

check these measurements....
just guessing - black bracket looks to be about 3 inches.
tensioner body is about 1 inch.
tensioner spring arm is about 1/2 inch

 

Overall, the path for the belt must be consistent. I shredded a belt due to the pulley on the power steering pump not having been installed deep enough.

 

ill do those measurements before work and let you know sometime after, when i get home regardless im going to go swap it out just to try first