Trying to install my new fan belt...but been stuck off and on for 3 days trying to remove a stripped bolt. I've tried metric, sae, box wrenches...everything that I can think of to fit to no avail.

What can I do?

You might try buying a 6 point socket, and then using a hammer to tap it all the way over the bolt head. Use a small breaker bar or a really good ratchet to turn the socket.

6 point sockets work better than the more common 12 point variety - They grip all of the bolt head, so they don't round off the tips.

I decided to give up and going to let the mechanic guy do it tomorrow I think. He says no need to remove fan to put on belt. I'll see. I know that defeats the purpose of asking, but working on this car is been a pain in the butt everyday between other things im doing and keep buying wrench sets which haven't worked.

It would have been okay had the cheapo walmart brand wrenches been replaced by the better quality ones from the get go. Damn things wouldn't bite down for s***. It just kept slipping and getting worse.

Follow up: got the stuck bolt off myself. Had to do the hammer and chisel trick I had seen on a YouTube video lol. Almost ate the whole bolt but the threads were good.

But now, I had got the fan off, removed 3 bolts around the idler pulley...and couldn't get the metal bracket thing off to remove the belt. And by then, it was getting dark and didn't want to have something go wrong and get stuck.

So question now is, what bolts do I remove to get the belt off. Or do those even need to come off at all?

You would loosen the center bolt in the idler pulley, then turn the adjusting bolt to remove tension from the belt. See page MA-10 of the factory service manual. It's available at the link in my signature. The fan probably didn't need to come off. You can typically get the belt off of the pulley, pull it up behind the fan, and then fish it over the blades of the fan... hard to describe, but pretty easy to do.

Are we talking the same engine? There is a huge bracket that's connecting the pulley and 2 other bolts. I can't get the belt off without getting that off because it's in front of it It's not moving. I see a small bolt looks like for a 5 point hex type, but I don't even have a tool for that.

I removed tension from the belt already and even got the tensioner off. But I can't pull the belt over this damn bracket. I hate this!

OK after a couple more hours, I ended up getting an Allen wrench and as I expected, there was a bolt holding it together. ALLen wrench t