Quoting AnotherNewb:
You and put your tensioner in a vice and use a small drill bit or allen wrench to compress your tensioner, if you don't have the tool.
Wut?
Slow down there, Hoss. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Your conjuctional grammarsyntaxialforcationage is so fubar only Curtis can trully understood what you were saying /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif
AnotherNewb, I think most of us know what you meant, but it sounds like this is new territory for Andrew, so lets take that into consideration when we give him advice.
The vfaq pages cover the job of doing the t-belt fairly well, and it's just in the details you may have questions.
It's best to just replace the tensioner if you don't know it's service history. (along with the timing belt idler pulleys and water pump)
Factory parts work best for me in this application.
Better to do this job once, and do it right!
If you do decide to reuse the tensioner, some care during this service will significantly increase your odds.
When compressing the tensioner, it's best to use soft jaws in the vice, or just stick a piece of plastic in between the vice jaw and the plunger of the tensioner. The reason for this is if you squarsh a waffle pattern into in the pin tip with the vice jaw, it'll wear a divot into the tensioner arm. The pin will catch in that divot, things won't self adjust correctly, and eventually you'll get a funky clicking noise from the t-belt cover area when the engine is idling.
Compress the the tensioner s-l-o-w-l-y!
You'll feel the handle of the vice move easy five or ten seconds after you crank an 1/8th of a turnor so. That's the hydraulic fluid being forced back into reservoir in the tensioner body. If you crank the vice in too fast, you can get crazy hydraulic pressures built up and damage the tensioner internally quite easily. As a tech, I've seen it a few times when a motor skips time right after a belt change. The damaged tensioner will let the pin just squeeze back into the body with a light squeeze/finger pressure.
Just take your time, hold a gentle tension on the vice handle, and let the tensioner compress at it's own pace.
Taking your time with this operation will ensure the best possible outcome.