My OEM Dayco plastic pulley bearings started constantly squeeling at 44k. Replaced just the pulley and bearings for less than $20 and a Goodyear Gatorback belt, both from Autozone. Did the belt myself, it wasn't that difficult, took maybe 20 minutes (probably helps that I don't have huge arms though).

 

How the heck do you get the belt out from the tensioner....I lost the battle on mine last night. My hands look like hamburger, my back feels like a bull sat on it, and I still have this nice shiny new belt (from Cummins - 62 bucks) sitting on my work bench. I dont want to say that I am now intimidated by the truck, but I do have a new found respect for it!

BTW, I did it myself - used my torque wrench and a ratchet strap around the frame to hold the tensioner open. Was kind of a bugger to hold it and get the strap in place, but got it done.

 

I used a 1/2 inch ratchet and a cheater bar to extend it to make it easier.

 

I did mine by myself when I installed my exhaust brake. I used a cheater on the end of the 1/2" dirve ratchet and tackled it from the bottom (laying on the ground). Then I put a nylon strap on the cheater and hooked it to a stout suspension piece, worked quite well.

And if replacing a broken belt as I read in another thread the belt does not go around the fan. I know it didn't make sense to me either.

 

That's exactly what I did. And your right - dont try to feed it around the fan and shroud - you'll have to fish it back out.

Still no answers on how to get it between the tensioner and the block? Or I did I just have it so screwed up that it only seemed that it needed to go through there....

 

It is quite easy to change the belt by yourself. I used a 1/2" ratchet and a cheater bar. With the ratchet you can easily position the handle where you want it. Working from underneath, release the belt tension then slide the belt off the crank pulley. Let go the cheater slowly until it stops. Remove the belt. Reverse the procedure to reinstall the belt. It is quite easy to align the belt from the top and then slip in on the crank pulley from underneath as the last step. About a 10 minute job.
Before removing the belt take a look at the belt routing diagram under the hood and make sure you understand how to route the belt.