1992 240 timing belt, tensioner, and crankshaft pulley quest

[arbop]

I was changing the water pump on my 240, had the timing belt cover off, and noticed I could deflect the timing belt about 1/4 of an inch without much effort. The belt itself looks in good shape. Now, these are my questions:
Is that normal?

Can the tensioner pulley be rotated to take up slack, or does all of the tension come from the spring?

How do you get the tensioner pulled back so that you can insert a pin into it to hold the pressure? Same question for a new tensioner being installed.

Haynes says to remove the crankshaft pulley as part of changing the timing belt. Is that necessary?

Thanks for all of your help.

[93Regina]

Can the tensioner pulley be rotated to take up slack

Service manual indicates to loosen tensioner nut, then grab belt and flex it outward, then with smaller drill bit, lockin tensioner's position.

When doing water pump, one should do seals, tensioner, belt, as explained here: Volvo 240 Timing belt and Engine Seals Replacement

Seals are cheap, and for intermediate shaft, I use larger blade screw-driver to hold pulley; screw-driver thru one of pulley's hole, and seated on a block-lip. With timing belt on, one can loosen bolt.

Pay attention to torque settings