Need some help replacing the serpentine belt

[tominboise]

I have a 2006 Duramax with the single alternator. It has about 100k miles on it. I bought a new GM serpentine belt and I'd like to change it as perventative maintenance. Has anyone changed the belt without pulling the upper shroud and the engine mounted deflector blade arrangement? If so, how did you get your breaker bar on the tensioner to unload the belt tension? The factory service manual says to pull the upper shroud and the other plastic widget off first, but I'd rather not, as it's an involved process.

If you have pulled the upper shroud off, how did you get the "push in" fasteners loose, in order to remove them?

Any help is appreciated.

Tom

[joed]

I can't help with replacing the belt, as I haven't had to yet, but...

For the push-in fasteners, I used a small flat-blade screwdriver to pry up the smaller center sections. Once those are extended (don't need to remove completely), the larger, bottom portions will pull out. Pretty slick, really, in that they are reusable. Very easy to re-install.

Joe.