weird situation with serp belt + tensioner

[ggoblue]

i thought i'd swap out the wifes serp belt 'just because'...so i look in there and find the belt diagram...look down the front of the motor, and the tensioner is not even touching the belt. its just sitting there waving in the breeze. the belt is tight and everything is working fine. i've been maintaining this truck for 2 years. it has 109,000 miles on it.

this is a 2001 exp. xlt...my brain is telling me that someone put the wrong belt on there and tightened it the old fashioned way, but do the alternator ect even have a swing tension ability?

maybe i'm missing something here? [edit...as emily littella would say, nevermind]

 

[sgtowing]

Maybe the tensioner is bad and they just put on a smaller belt cause the last owner did not have the money for a new one.

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[ggoblue]

or maybe i'm a knucklehead

Maybe the tensioner is bad and they just put on a smaller belt cause the last owner did not have the money for a new one.

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i guess i just didn't look hard enough. i still can't 'see' the belt coming and going, but its on there. i put the ratchet on it and it slackens the belt. the grooves im looking at aren't on the pulley, they're on the underside of the belt.

but hey, thanks for trying. i'll save this job for a nicer day, its snowing now, and blowing hard enough to shut the hood on me.