Putting the alternator back on

[halfman]

Hi,
Recently took the alternator off for new bearings, bit of a pain getting to the lower bolt at the back, but managed. The time has come to put it back on again and I can imagine this bolt is going to be even more awkward to get back on. Is there a knack to doing this, or has anybody got a tip to make it easier?

[biggiles]

I did mine at the weekend.

Major tip- take the bonnet off. I did the whole thing leaning over the side, and it would have saved much time and trouble taking the bonnet off.

I managed to drop the lower nut a couple of times, so watch out for that, but otherwise it wasn't hard. The nut is not too hard to get at. Put the bolt through the whole way, pull back a bit and then fumble the nut on. You could stick the nut into a big lump of bluetack to make it easier to hold.

Hardest thing I found was getting the fan-belt back on... the bible doesn't explain very well how the fanbelt tensioner works on my '97 500!

BTW, how much did it cost you roughly to replace the bearings? Mine were whining but I ended up replacing the whole alternator.

[halfman]

Cost £90 for a full rebuild incl. bearings, bushes etc. Not far from the price of a new one I guess but I hope it will now last another 10 years!

[Bob the Planner]

halfman said:

... bit of a pain getting to the lower bolt at the back, but managed....

Mine was very easy to get to - but then again it is a pre-serpentine with no PAS.