Confused on Harmonic Balancer V or Serpentine?

[86cj]

This may seem as though it is a stupid question. Any information from all of you experienced jeepers will be greatly appreciated. Here goes, I have a 1986 CJ7, 258, AMC20 Rear, AMC30 Front? from what I can till the Jeep appears to be original. I had the water pump changed (it has been getting into the -20 degrees and the shop has no heat. And single digits during the day) too cold to work on it. The harmonic balancer slipped and needs replaced. Morris and 4WD list the balancer for a V-Belt, Mine needs a balancer for a serpentine. I was told that for the larger motors 258? they normally used the V-Belt. My question is did the PO change everything over to serpentne or did Jeep do it because they were running out of parts?:???: After a lot of searching we found the right part, to the tune of $230.00. Thank You all in advance for any information.

 

[TLCJ5]

I've never seen a "86 258 that came from the factory with a serp belt....not sure whenthe serp belts started,but I would expect a V-belt from the factory on that one....That said if your set up with a serp I would think it woiuld cost more to change over all the components back to a V-belt than to bite the bullet & go with a serp replacement part.

 

[86cj]

I've never seen a "86 258 that came from the factory with a serp belt....not sure whenthe serp belts started,but I would expect a V-belt from the factory on that one....That said if your set up with a serp I would think it woiuld cost more to change over all the components back to a V-belt than to bite the bullet & go with a serp replacement part.

Thanks TLCJ5 for your input. I did check into going back to V-belt and quickly decided to bite the bullet and get the serpentine replacement. I like the the serpentine better any way. I found a place online that will rebuild the old one at a reasonable price so that if for some unforeseeable reason I should need one again I have available.