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97' Alternator Install... @#!$*@!#!! HELP

ODXJ97

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Florida
Ok... the old one is out. The battery tray has been removed, and the new alternator is some what in position. However, I can not find anyway to adjust the tension on the belt so that I can get the d*mn thing in. I finally got the belt on, but I cannot get it any where near the upper mounts now. Is there a certain sequnce to this? I've installed many ALTs in the past, but this is the biggest pain yet. I can't belive there's no tension bolt... am I just not seeing it?
 
It might be a spring tensioner. Just push down on the tensioner, just a thought could be wrong. Good luck
 
There's a tensioner!

I forget which pully it is... but it's top-right when you're standing there looking from the front of the Jeep. You have to loosen the bolt in the center of the pulley, then loosen the tensioner, which is a long bolt at a 35-degree-ish tilt to the left....

Left to loosen, Right to tighten. IIRC, 15mm.

That's the situation on my '00... and I think it's the same for a number of years.

Den
 
Don't forget to loosen the idler under the powe steering pump, 15mm, just a half to a full turn, then see that bolt thats on the PS bracket ? Thats the adjuster, it moves the now loosened idler pulley up and down. Use a ratchet box wrench, the temp sender gets in the way of of a ratchet/socket combo....Then when you get the belt released pull the threaded bolt up and apply some anti-seize to the adjuster threads...
 
On my 97' I had to remove the electric fan to get to the pulley bolt... no big deal.

On another note... some of you may be familiar with that write-up about using an alternator from a 97'-99' Grand Cherokee 5.2L for the 136amps compared to the stock 90. Well, that's what I did... and it turns out that the alternator has identical mounts, but it's too fat. Rather than give up, I just made my own braket for the top attachment bolt so that it could sit farther back from the original mount. All in all this was the biggest PITA as far ALT installs go even without the custom bracket. Oh well, now I know and I've got an extra 46 amps to boot.
 
Frank Z said:
What's the output at idle?

The output at idle is 71amps @ 1800rpm... 126amps @ 3000rpm... 155amps @ 5000rpms. I'll keep an eye on it for the next week and write a follow-up.
 
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Strange, I did the Grand Alt. swap, fit in perfectly after I adjusted the small sleeve like thing that one of the bolts go through.
EDIT: I did mine with the alt from a 360, not sure if that makes a difference or not...

What they said about loosing the bolt at the power steering pump bracket area, after that the belt is easy. The alt is still a PITA though, but I think that's by design.
 
Hmmm, even with the upgraded alt the volt gauge still reads about the same as the previous 90 amp unit did when running the additional accessories. I don't know if the gauge just doesn't recognize the new alt's higher amps orrrrrrrrrr what. Any help?
 
ODXJ97 said:
Hmmm, even with the upgraded alt the volt gauge still reads about the same as the previous 90 amp unit did when running the additional accessories. I don't know if the gauge just doesn't recognize the new alt's higher amps orrrrrrrrrr what. Any help?
That's because the VOLT METER indicates VOLTS not Amperes. The voltage is regulated by the, you guessed it, Voltage regulator. The amount of amps put out is determined by the speed of the pulley.
 
And don't forget the guages like to be off a bit sometimes...
 
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