Well, it's been an interesting spring/summer since I had replaced mainly the entire cooling system parts. From the time after the change till now, I had to deal with a constant belt chirp.

During the summer though, the chirp went away due to temps above 85. I figured that the belt had to adjust to fit and conform.

Well, in the past two weeks as temps dropped below 50 and on a long trip, the squealing of the belt was like a runt of a pig. It turned everyone's head on the street and in vehicles that had the windows up.

Never buy Dayco Poly Rib belts for a Dodge Ram Van with the Magnum engines. My belt Dayco p/n was 5071005. Got it at the Advanced Auto online with a discount.

What squealed wasn't the seven V-grooves side of the belt. Oh no, that isn't the case. BUT, the other side of the belt that is shiny, slick and even with the proper belt tension allows the back side of the belt to slip causing the squeal over the water-pump pulley.

Now, a person here in the forums recommended a Gatorback belt by Goodyear. Can't find the posting, but a THANK YOU to them. That belt is mega quiet, not even a noise. Best of all, RockAuto had an inventory closeout sale with the belt 65% off this past week. Upon putting the belt on in 40 degree weather, starting the engine, I could have peace again. No loud squealing pig! haha

I tried all of the belt dressings, friction lubes, and even the Irish-Spring soap trick on that Dayco belt. It would work for about a day before the squealing pig came back.

So, if your belt tends to squeal, get a Goodyear Gatorback belt. For my 2001 magnum 5.2L engine with AC, the p/n is 4071005 pack number is 7PK2555.

 

I was just going to reply and suggest a gatorback. Hard to find around here but they're damn good belts.

 

One other item of interest about the Gatorback is, they are Made In the USA.

 

yea, mines starting to squeak, more so now that we are having very cold weather... since I just topped 100k on my 94 it might be time to change it.

then again I also need to do a valve adjustment... not that I cant just 8 cylinders = time consuming

 

The Gatorback belts also have a cross-cut groove design which is self cleaning and also works to eject water just like the sipes on tires. I run Gatorback belts on all my vehicles foreign & domestic and could not be happier. I might have been the one to recommend this , don't rightly remember.

 

Hydraulic lifters = no valve adjustments necessary/ possible does it not?

 

I think my service manual is misprinted, it says my 94 5.2 requires valve adjustments.

do any common auto parts stores, advance, autozone, napa, o'rielly's, etc stock this belt?

 

Got my belt from RockAuto. Do a search on-line for the Gatorback belt.

Summit Racing
Amazon
Autozone

 

This is an older post but wanted to give my vote to the Gatorback.

Back in 2001 I had to have the water pump replaced on a long vacation road trip. The garage put on a gatorback belt.

This past summer, 2014, I replaced the water pump and the local shop only had a Gates belt. I had no problems for the first 2,000 miles -- then each morning there was a "chirp" for about 2 minutes when you first started the van. Then progressively the time for the chirp to go away got longer and longer. After approximately 3,000 miles, the chirp turned into a constant squeal.

I had kept the Gatorback belt to put in my highway emergency kit. I put the 13 year old Gatorback belt back on the van to see if it would solve the squeal. It was complete silence.

Just ordered a new Gatorback belt for less than $18 with shipping. The quality of this belt is unsurpassed.

 

Nice.

I do Rockauto.com as the shipping is fast and a better price.