Help with a Belt Decision

[BISCUT]

Soon enough I'll be changing plugs & belt on the 15 F150 5.0. Plugs are already determined; MC OEM for these is a no-brainer -- to me anyway. Where I'm sketchy on is what belt to use. Net has nay's about Gates and MC for that matter. I wish the Gatorback was still in production. Used those many times and never had an issue. My 5.0 has an accessory belt as well. Will be doing both.

Also, should I be changing anything else while I'm 'knee deep" so to speak? Mileage will only be 70k but it's 7.5 years in service and I've dealt with stuck plugs so want to get at it. And it'll put a smile on my face.

 

[zrxkawboy]

I’ve been using the Continental kits with good results.

 

[doitmyself]

7.5 years and 70K miles might be a tad early to change the belt? I changed my Patriot belt, tensioner, and pulleys at 10 years/115,000 miles because I was just beginning to get a tiny bit of chirping during winter mornings. God willing, I should never have to replace them again, so I made my decision easy and went all OEM. The cost difference is pennies over a 10 year span.

Unless you get some specific Ford 150 owners experiences, I expect you to get the standard anecdotal recommendations of Bando, Continental, Mitsuboshi, etc.. Gates and Dayco seem to be falling out of favor here. Ford OEM has bad reviews?? That's odd. Of course, stay away from the bargain brands IMO.

Good luck. In older age, I am of financial ability to abandon OCD decisions and simply pay more for OEM most, but not all times. Buy once, cry once.

 

[marc1]

I use Gates, Continental or Dayco with confidence in all my vehicles.

Re: knee deep - On modern vehicles, so equipped, I also change out tensioners and idler pulleys at the same time. 70k is about where I seem to change these things so that seems reasonable to me.

 

[MSCH]

hey Biscut, never mind the internet , because they will tell you Fram filters are no good and the last Presidential election was stolen and that covid was a hoax... reality is Gates is good stuff, in fact Gates is often relabeled as OEM and passes for OEM,the other brands such as conti and GY also are fine.

good thing about serpentine belts is they go a real long way before they fail and they usually give plenty of warning before they do.

 

[WobblyElvis]

I often watch Pine Hollow Diagnostic videos and they recently made an interesting discovery regarding Gates belt/tensioner kits.

The owner of the shop wanted to use the best "made in Japan" components to install on a Subaru. He ordered a Gates kit that was supposedly made in Japan. The box the parts arrived in clearly stated each component was made in Japan. Upon opening the box and examining each part, he found about half of the parts were made in China. He called the vendor, Rock Auto, and Gates about this problem. Both customer service lines would not take any responsibility for this.

Video here...

 

[doitmyself]

hey Biscut, never mind the internet ,

I agree it is VERY difficult to know how to interpret internet marketing claims:

- "Gates proudly supplies automotive parts to more than 34 OE manufacturers worldwide, and we bring that same quality, reliability, and performance to our OE-equivalent aftermarket parts."
- "Bando is a leading OE supplier of automotive accessory drive belts in the USA. Bando supplies accessory belts for 6 of the top 10 cars, and 5 of the top 10 light trucks sold in the USA today. Bando has proudly manufactured accessory drive belts in Bowling Green, KY since 1988."
- " WE KNOW OE, BECAUSE WE ARE OE. For over 145 years, Continental has been a driving force as a major OE supplier to many of the world’s leading domestic and import automobile manufacturers. As a leading provider of OE belts on vehicles worldwide, Continental is uniquely positioned to lead innovation in aftermarket products like the OE Technology Series Multi V-Belts. They’re the belts engines already know, and they’re precision engineered for perfect fit, form and function."

 

[dogememe]

Seems way too early to replace the belt?

 

[Zee09]

I often watch Pine Hollow Diagnostic videos and they recently made an interesting discovery regarding Gates belt/tensioner kits.

The owner of the shop wanted to use the best "made in Japan" components to install on a Subaru. He ordered a Gates kit that was supposedly made in Japan. The box the parts arrived in clearly stated each component was made in Japan. Upon opening the box and examining each part, he found about half of the parts were made in China. He called the vendor, Rock Auto, and Gates about this problem. Both customer service lines would not take any responsibility for this.

Video here...

Totally wrong but it may be due to supply chain issues? Giving them the benefit of doubt. Most likely not..

 

[2010Civic]

I often watch Pine Hollow Diagnostic videos and they recently made an interesting discovery regarding Gates belt/tensioner kits.

The owner of the shop wanted to use the best "made in Japan" components to install on a Subaru. He ordered a Gates kit that was supposedly made in Japan. The box the parts arrived in clearly stated each component was made in Japan. Upon opening the box and examining each part, he found about half of the parts were made in China. He called the vendor, Rock Auto, and Gates about this problem. Both customer service lines would not take any responsibility for this.

Video here...

That video is from 2016.

 

[BISCUT]

10 Posts later and it's apparent this is not a no-brainer decision

 

[MSCH]

I agree it is VERY difficult to know how to interpret internet marketing claims:

- "Gates proudly supplies automotive parts to more than 34 OE manufacturers worldwide, and we bring that same quality, reliability, and performance to our OE-equivalent aftermarket parts."
- "Bando is a leading OE supplier of automotive accessory drive belts in the USA. Bando supplies accessory belts for 6 of the top 10 cars, and 5 of the top 10 light trucks sold in the USA today. Bando has proudly manufactured accessory drive belts in Bowling Green, KY since 1988."
- " WE KNOW OE, BECAUSE WE ARE OE. For over 145 years, Continental has been a driving force as a major OE supplier to many of the world’s leading domestic and import automobile manufacturers. As a leading provider of OE belts on vehicles worldwide, Continental is uniquely positioned to lead innovation in aftermarket products like the OE Technology Series Multi V-Belts. They’re the belts engines already know, and they’re precision engineered for perfect fit, form and function."

hey you left out the Presidential election was stolen from my quote . Gates is OE... on some stuff. of course they put the OEM's label on them, Harley drive belts are made by Gates but have the Moco bar and shield on them... Guess what I mean is people bad mouth all sorts of things on the internet to the point the falsehoods become hard to separate from the truth.

 

[Donald]

I have a green serpentine belt for my PSD in a large ziplock back in the truck. Forget the brand. And an exhaust gas temp sensor in the bag also.

 

[MSCH]

I have a green serpentine belt for my PSD in a large ziplock back in the truck. Forget the brand. And an exhaust gas temp sensor in the bag also.

Green Stripe are normally Gates/ http://www.gatesunitta.com/en/green-stripe®-v-belt

 

[researcher]

I've been using Gates for both the Honda and Scion, not having any issues for the belts. I think the Civic ones were made in mexico.

 

[Johnny248]

I'm not sure Gates is what it once was. I work in an auto service center and from what I've seen, the Bando stuff is probably at the higher end of quality. Pricing is usually very good also.

 

[MattPersman]

The green gates are gates hd

 

[Wingo]

I bought the green gates belt for the dumbest reason ever, I like the looks of it and it was the same price as the others on Rock Auto. Sometimes I just like pretty things I guess.

That said it's been good. No noise at all.

 

[doitmyself]

hey you left out the Presidential election was stolen from my quote . Gates is OE... on some stuff. of course they put the OEM's label on them, Harley drive belts are made by Gates but have the Moco bar and shield on them... Guess what I mean is people bad mouth all sorts of things on the internet to the point the falsehoods become hard to separate from the truth.

There's also that concept that manufacturers produce parts to one standard(better?) for OEM labeled parts and a different standard for aftermarket parts. So, a Gates OEM labeled belt might not be the same as the Gates labeled aftermarket part. Others have given examples of this in the past (in general, not Gates specifically). I.E., OEM factory Ford Motorcraft oil filters used to be made by Champion while at the same time aftermarket Ford Motorcraft oil filters were made by Purolator. For my Patriot, the OEM factory installed Akebono brake pads are completely different vs. the aftermarket Akebono pads.

Tough for us to know if Gates, Bando, Continental products are like this.

 

[Donald]

There's also that concept that manufacturers produce parts to one standard(better?) for OEM labeled parts and a different standard for aftermarket parts. So, a Gates OEM labeled belt might not be the same as the Gates labeled aftermarket part. Others have given examples of this in the past (in general, not Gates specifically). I.E., OEM factory Ford Motorcraft oil filters used to be made by Champion while at the same time aftermarket Ford Motorcraft oil filters were made by Purolator. For my Patriot, the OEM factory installed Akebono brake pads are completely different vs. the aftermarket Akebono pads.

Tough for us to know if Gates, Bando, Continental products are like this.

I see no reason why they would not do that. They may not want their name associated with one that is real junk, a OEM grade and a aftermarket grade would seem reasonable. They could be the same or one could be slightly different.

These companies are large enough and understand technology that they could make belts at various price points.

Bring back the Gatorback belt!!