What is the easiest way to remove the alternator belt on an 06 FST switch. On mine the cast belt shroud seems to be so close there is no way to slip it between the shroud and the pulley to get the belt off. Anyone else have this problem or am i just the lucky one. What needs to be done to get it off?
Thanks Steve

Remove the muffler and lift or support the engine so the engine mount plate can be removed. Loosen the bolts that secure the aluminum casting (you referenced above) enough to slip the belt past the 6" pulley. If you are removing the alternator beware that the long lower pivot bolt cannot be removed as it hits the right side of the bulk head. Your choices are; 1) cut the bolt and reinstall with a new metric bolt from the opposite direction or 2) drill a 3/4" clearance hole in the bulkhead and reuse the bolt.

Why are you changing the belt?

I have a small blemish on my belt i noticed when i changed my alternator pulley. I am keeping an eye on it and it doesnt seem to be getting any worse but i know i will have to change it eventually. I tried to change it before and couldnt get it off no matter what i did. With the 2.75 inch pulley change i could also stay with my factory belt its just long enough to use without being too tight.
About two weeks ago i changed my pulley to a 2.75 inch pulley instead of the 2.5 so that it would run within the limits yayou was talking about in one of his threads. (multiply engine RPM by pulley Dia. on crankshaft and divide that by the Dia of the alternator pulley.) this will give you your alternator RPM. I did the math and mine was running too fast a lot of the time and i was worried it might burn out. Now an RPM spike of 8250 is what it would take to put me over 18000 RPM wich is the limit of these alternators should not run over and that would be only momentarily because my sled always settles at about 8000 RPM at WOT.Now my alternator will run at about 17400 at WOT. Sustained runs over 18000 RPM is what will burn these out so i am not worried about a momentary spike of rpm. my alternator now runs at 17454 @ WOT wich is 8000 RPM and my sled runs 7800 or 7900 at WOT in most conditions.
Think i will take the alluminum casting to the machine shop i work at and use milling machine to create enough clearance to get the belt off without loosening anything up in the future.
Thanks Steve

Where did you get the new pulley and do have a part #. Thanks

Igot one off an s-10 pickup alternator in a salvage yard cut the hub out and put a new one in as i have access to a machine shop.

Two years ago the alternator bracket broke on mine and this almost broke the belt in 1/2. When I put the new belt back on I did not have to do anything with the cast belt shroud. I know that it looks tight but I was able to slip the new belt on without removing the shroud. This is on a 06 Classic.