Ron,

I'm sure Dennis will give you the right answer here, and goodness knows you have the choice of belts, but the correct belt in my experience solves things.

I've tried a few belt sizes and manufacturers, belts that don't squeal in my experience have been the ones that sit lower in the pulley.

And double check the pulley alignment.

Cheers

Alistair

> On May 11, 2017, at 6:02 PM, The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM> wrote:
> 
> The alternator belt on my '87 Westy screeches horribly at idle, and
> sometimes when you first pull out from a stop. (It stops if you gun the
> engine, or while driving at almost any speed.) Replaced the belt and the new
> one started doing the same thing after only a few hundred miles. The belt
> tension is correct. The mount looks okay and nothing seems visually wrong
> with the geometry. The alternator does not seem to be binding. One of the
> pulleys had a bit of surface rust but sanding it off made no difference. No
> hot spots when viewed with an infrared heat detector. Running out of ideas.
> Any thoughts?
> 
> Ron Salmon