When I had the thing torn down after purchasing, I tried every which way to remove belt without removing either clutches. No success. I could actually twist the two disks on the trans side clutch, but it would not spread open freely. You need to perform some world class yoga move with 3-4 hands to pull this off.
When I bought the odyssey, it had a new or fairly new belt. I questioned if it was actually too tight. When engine is idling, the belt tension actually is spinning the transmission clutch. I think this is why the trans grinds when shifting into gear. When engine was not running, there was enough slack to spin the belt by hand. Otherwise, pretty tight. I was so anxious to put everything back together for my first run that I just quit messing with belt.
Before doing too much work, I wanted to run the odyssey to see how it was performing (engine, transmission, suspension, etc). Well, I can tell you I must have gotten lucky. This thing really runs strong. I am an abusive tough rider, not to mention weighing 220 lbs. The engine and transmission ran strong.
The only potential problem I was having was fouling plugs. I need to investigate this some more.
To make a long story short, I still have not been able to remove the da** belt. I am certainly interested in any other suggestions.
Thanks,
Dan