I installed a shorter belt this afternoon. Regrettably on my car the back of the belt puts a lot of force on the AC clutch pulley below it and causes it to rotate backward. I'm concerned that if the compressor was accidentally turned on the compressor itself would turn backwards and probably damage the AC system. I'd hate to get lots of metal fragments into the freon.

I'll be putting the old longer belt back on tomorrow.

So, I'll have to move my replacement of the compressor to the next few days instead of 3-4 weeks.