On the 2009-2018 Ram 1500 this is one of the friendliest jobs on the truck, as long as you know how your tensioner is designed to be released. The 5.7 Hemi and early 4.7 give you a tensioner arm you can swing with a 1/2 inch breaker bar from the top of the engine bay, and the belt snakes out past the fan with no disassembly. The 3.6 Pentastar is tighter and most people end up using a serpentine belt tool with a 15 mm crowfoot on the tensioner pulley bolt, often after lifting the upper fan shroud and pulling the intake tube.
The 3.0 EcoDiesel is the outlier: budget more time, plan on removing charge-air plumbing and the shroud, and remember it runs a separate A/C belt that comes off first. The single thing people get wrong is routing. Photograph the old belt before you touch it, and after installation trace the belt with a flashlight around every pulley including the crank pulley down low. A belt sitting one rib off will look fine idling and then shred a few miles down the road.
| Item | Type | |
|---|---|---|
| Safety glasses Belt and tensioner can snap loose toward your face. | Safety | shop |
| Work gloves Protects hands working between pulleys and shroud. | Safety | shop |
| Belt routing diagram Photo of old belt or under-hood decal Wrong routing on the 3.6 and 3.0 is the most common mistake. | Required | shop |
| Socket set, 3/8 in drive 10 mm, 13 mm, 15 mm, 18 mm 6-point Fan shroud, air box, and tensioner/idler hardware. | Required | shop |
| Ratchet 3/8 in drive with 6 in extension General access around the front of the engine. | Required | shop |
| Breaker bar or long ratchet 1/2 in drive, 18-24 in Gives the leverage to swing the spring tensioner off the belt on the 5.7 and 4.7. | Required | shop |
| Serpentine belt tool kit 1/2 in drive with 13/14/15/16/18 mm crowfoot sockets and long swivel handle Only way to reach the tensioner pulley bolt on the 3.6 Pentastar and 3.0 EcoDiesel. | Required | shop |
| Combination wrench 15 mm (16 mm on some 3.6 tensioners) Alternative to the belt tool for pulling the tensioner pulley bolt. | Required | shop |
| 3/8 in square drive adapter 1/2 in to 3/8 in step-down Some Mopar tensioner arms have a square hole instead of a hex boss. | Recommended | shop |
| Flashlight or headlamp LED Verifying the belt is seated in every rib groove behind the fan. | Recommended | shop |
| Flexible inspection mirror Telescoping Checks the back side of the crank and power steering pulleys for full belt seating. | Recommended | shop |
| Torx bit set T20-T30 (fan shroud clips, EcoDiesel covers) Some shroud and cover fasteners are Torx, especially on the diesel. | Recommended | shop |
| Torque wrench 3/8 in drive, 10-80 ft-lb Needed if you remove the tensioner, idler, or shroud bolts. | Recommended | shop |
| Belt tension gauge Serpentine ribbed-belt type Optional check that the automatic tensioner is still within range. | Recommended | shop |
| Serpentine drive belt 5.7 Hemi: Mopar 53032860 / Gatorback K060922 type; 3.6: 6-rib ~ K060995; 4.7: K060935 type; 3.0 diesel: main belt plus separate A/C belt Match by VIN and by whether the truck has A/C and a hydraulic fan. | Parts | shop |
| Tensioner assembly Engine-specific spring tensioner Replace if the arm is loose, rattling, or the pulley bearing is rough. | Parts | shop |
| Idler pulley Engine-specific Cheap insurance on trucks over 100k miles with belt noise. | Parts | shop |
| Brake or belt cleaner Aerosol Removes oil or coolant film from pulley grooves so the new belt does not slip. | Consumables | shop |
| Shop towels Clean pulleys and wipe your hands before handling the new belt. | Consumables | shop |
5.7 Hemi and 4.7 V8: the tensioner arm has a hex boss or square hole you release with a 1/2 in breaker bar, no other disassembly needed. 3.6 Pentastar: you release the tensioner at the pulley center bolt, 15 mm (16 mm on some later units), which almost always requires a serpentine tool crowfoot plus removing the intake tube and lifting the upper fan shroud with 10 mm bolts. 3.0 EcoDiesel: same 15 mm pulley-bolt approach but you must remove charge-air plumbing, the shroud, and the separate A/C belt first.
| Belt tensioner mounting bolt (5.7 Hemi) | verify in the service manual |
| Belt tensioner mounting bolt (3.6 Pentastar) | verify in the service manual |
| Idler pulley bolt | verify in the service manual |
| Fan shroud bolts (10 mm head) | about 5-6 ft-lb (7-8 Nm) - plastic, do not overtighten |
| Tensioner pulley center bolt | verify in the service manual |
Tensioner access on this generation is reliably 15 mm (occasionally 16 mm on later 3.6 units) with 10 mm shroud bolts, but confirm the exact belt part number by VIN and confirm your tensioner uses a hex boss, a square hole, or the pulley bolt before buying a tool.
You rotate the tensioner arm in the direction that compresses its spring and shortens the belt path, which on the Hemi is a swing toward the front of the engine. Apply light pressure and feel which way gives; the stop side will not move at all, so you cannot damage it by testing gently.
Not on the 5.7 Hemi or 4.7; the belt will pass between the fan blades and shroud. On the 3.6 Pentastar most people lift the upper shroud and pull the air intake tube for hand room, and on the 3.0 EcoDiesel shroud and intake removal is basically mandatory.
Expect 90,000 to 120,000 miles on the EPDM belts used in this generation. They rarely crack like old belts; instead the ribs wear down and the belt gets loose and starts chirping, so check rib depth with a belt wear gauge rather than looking for cracks.
If the truck has over 100,000 miles or you hear a bearing whine or feel roughness spinning the pulleys by hand, yes. A failed tensioner spring or pulley bearing will throw the new belt, and both pulleys are accessible with the belt already off, so the extra labor is only a few minutes.