1986 bounder 454 p30 engine drive belt replacement

[lowchopr]

how do you get to the friggin belts to change them?? holy crapola!!!!! thanks.

[Natetheskate]

You'll have to jack up the front end, remove at least one front wheel, the splash panels, (if installed) and go at it.  It takes some help and a lot of cussing.  Take pictures first.

[Old_Crow]

I worked on P30 motor homes at a Chevy dealer for about 7 years back in the '80's, and I did it from the top, though the dog house, and from the bottom(yes, it's a lot of getting up and down). 
There's a curved cross member in the frame, right in front of the harmonic balancer.  It's held in with 4 bolts and it's got a brake line bolted to it.  Removing that helps a lot.   
Removing the heat shield on the drivers side is more trouble than it's worth for belts, because the steering gear and brake master cylinder are still in the way.  Most '86's won't have a factory installed shield on the passenger side.
Never an easy job, your arms will bleed, and your back will hurt from getting up and down to move between the inside and underneath.  If you're not careful, you'll get grease on the furniture or carpet.
Good luck, and have fun.

Oh, I always used a grease pencil to mark the belts.  One mark on the first one off, two on the second and so on. 

[lowchopr]

thanks alot guys thats some awesome info! i appreciate the well wishes, im going to try it this saturday, biggest propblem is i cant find the belts at any parts store, they dont know how to look them up...going to try my local rv dealer tomorrow see if he can get them for me. there is 1 ribbed belt goes around air pump and alternator, 1 v belt goes fan crank ac p/s,,and 1 v belt goes from crank to p/s. the crank to p/s is missing, may have to match the other 2. thank again for your help i appreciate it very much!!

[Old_Crow]

Might be more expensive, but a Chevy dealer should be able to pick out the belts.  I went to O'Reilly's when I changed mine and had to make a couple of trips for the a/c belt.

[Alfa38User]

I would not count on much help from an RV dealer. Most have very little knowledge on the truck portion of an RV unless they happen to employ a "gearhead"....

You may need to find the the chassis model and that can likely be determined using a VIN decoder for the particular brand of vehicle the Bounder is based on.

[lowchopr]

Thanks for the input I do appreciate that I checked with the dealer and the VIN for the Bounder doesn't even come up on their system so that was a no-go I think I'm just going to use the rope trick going to be a lot easier, thanks again

[Charlie 5320]

Thanks for the input I do appreciate that I checked with the dealer and the VIN for the Bounder doesn't even come up on their system so that was a no-go I think I'm just going to use the rope trick going to be a lot easier, thanks again

It helps  to have two people  to do it,  but  can be done by yourself. Take the engine  cover off, then you can lay on your belly to reach the front of the engine. It helps  to have someone  below  to help you. My O'Reillys have always  had the correct parts for the P32 chassis. Just look up the year and use P30, brake parts can be difficult sometimes, because there were different weight chassis.