How to loosen tensioner for Unibelt?
 

I noticed a large tensioner for my belt on my car. How do you loosen this so the belt can be removed? It is an 83'. Thanks.

It's a spring loaded device, theres a special tool for loosening the belt tension, but I just used a socket on a breaker bar with a 2' piece of 3/4" pipe to add leverage.

You'll need to keep pressure down on the tool to hold the tensioner back while you remove the belt, and again when you replace the belt.

Yeah, when I first bought my car I tried prying on the wheel itself and dented it. I didn't think to use a socket. You can do this because the bolt you stick it on is threaded in reverse.