I tried to replace drivebelt on 98 Escort LX and the top square hole of the belt tensioner assembly, where you put the ranch nose to rotate it, was cracked into two pieces while pressing little hard with the ranch. The amazing discovery was that that top square piece is made of plastic material! Isn't it ridiculous! Now I must replace the entire belt tensioner assembly. But I have no clue how to loose this tight bolt on the assembly becasue I'm afraid of giving damage on this hex bolt head. Did anyone have any similar experience as I have? Thanks.

I tried to replace drivebelt on 98 Escort LX and the top square hole of the belt tensioner assembly, where you put the ranch nose to rotate it, was cracked into two pieces while pressing little hard with the ranch. The amazing discovery was that that top square piece is made of plastic material! Isn't it ridiculous! Now I must replace the entire belt tensioner assembly. But I have no clue how to loose this tight bolt on the assembly becasue I'm afraid of giving damage on this hex bolt head. Did anyone have any similar experience as I have? Thanks.

I havent that experiance but keep in mind autozone.com has repair guides for the cars that can tell ya how to replace parts. I have done them on other cars without any big issue dont take long either.

Thanks for the your suggestion! Anyway, I applied a temporary repair method on this. Using vise to squeeze the top square broken piece tight, I pressed the vise to rotate the belt tensioner and replaced the drivebelt. I am so happly now. It was sort of time consuming until I came up with workable idea after a lot of failures. See 1% of inspiration after many tries alawys work for me.
Originally, I had a bad harmonic balancer that almost came out of alignment and grined my right side pannel. It wasn't that easy but I replaced whole thing successfully. Then this unexpected problem came up. Anyway if there's anyone needed to replaced harmonic balancer on 98 Escort LX, feel free to let me know then. I have some helpful ideas.

On my 99 I only had to remove one bolt that held it to the block and removed the tensioner assembly. Put it back on with same bolt, replaced the drive belt and the job was complete. I have a 2.0 L as well.

Major problem was that the head of hex bolt on that tensioner house went bad and wouldn't be taken out.