• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Broken Alternator Mounting Tab

Saudade

NAXJA Member
NAXJA Member
Location
SoCal
While trying to remove the upper bolt holding in the alt, I felt it tighten up about half way out. Ruh-roh. A half turn later, it felt pretty locked up. I tried to re-tighten it and it did about 2 turns before locking up again. Bear in mind I doused everything in some PB Blaster before staring this.

Anyway, I decide to proceed and sure enough a few turns later, I hear a snap and then it turns easier. As I continued to remove the bolt, I saw the crack in the threaded boss grow until half of it fell off. :(

Well, after chasing the threads out, I'm still waiting for the JB Weld to finish curing. I also bought slightly longer bolts in case I need to back it up with a washer and nut. I've already sourced a replacement bracket if the JB fails but will take a week to get here.

Oh the joy of a simple job.
 
One of the issues I have found is that Jeep likes to place a steel bolt into an aluminum bracket. This will always cause them to seize up unless you put some anti-seize on the bolts first. The same thing happens with the AC bracket.
 
Well, it’s done. JB weld is holding. New alt works fine. After chasing the threads, I added some anti seize on both bolts. Time will tell if it holds up. For now, on the road again.
 
Here's the pic of the broken tab.



KDb4xSz.jpg
 
Last edited:
Here's the pic of the broken tab.



KDb4xSz.jpg


When this happened on my '90, I just used a shorter bolt, cut the backside off the aluminum bracket and tightened it up to the steel support on the front. In my case it was the bottom bolt that broke so this wasn't a problem. It wouldn't have worked on your break.
 
When this happened on my '90, I just used a shorter bolt, cut the backside off the aluminum bracket and tightened it up to the steel support on the front. In my case it was the bottom bolt that broke so this wasn't a problem. It wouldn't have worked on your break.

That was one of my "workarounds". Saw the whole ear off. Also belt tension pulls the bolt into the remaining bracket. Not much force on the outer piece.
 
Back
Top