Watevaman

Hey all, my girlfriend's 96 Cherokee Sport had the signs of alternator failure on the drive home the other night, so I'm trying to remove the old one but it's giving me a hell of a time. After about 4 conflicting ways of telling me to take tension off the belt, I did that and then took off all the connections from the alternator, but I'm not seeing a way to get it out without taking off the radiator, then taking off the fan to slide it forward. I can rotate it so the pulley is facing up, but I can't get it out. The videos I've watched all have different layouts, with some having the reservoir behind it being further back, and some being able to slide it forward, then down through the bottom. Does anyone have any tips on getting this thing out smoothly? I'm sure I could get it out with enough banging, but then I'd be screwed getting the new one in. Also, all the posts I've seen have no mention of it being a hard job, and seeing as I've replaced alternators in several cars before with no issue, I'm sure I'm missing something essential.


In the above pic I attached, the orange areas are things that the alternator hits.

rzldzl

wiggle it out the bottom

rzldzl

oh you still have the alternator bracket bolted to the motor

remove that too, alternator will drop out

Watevaman

Is the alternator bracket the top right circle in the first pic? With the 3 bolts holding it on?

rzldzl

yes

my pic from my alt 4yrs ago....remove that bracket, get room to drop it out



mines a 98, but most of the 96 stuff i read said out the bottom too,

rzldzl

yellow is in the way, idb

Watevaman

Ok, just removed that front bracket, but yeah, that piece is still in the way. However, I don't see a way to get it off without the alternator being removed. In your pic, the two bolts behind where the alternator was are the ones that look like they need to be removed to get that bracket off? It's just hitting the fan right now, no room to wiggle it down.

rzldzl

hmm...so orient the pulley up and it looks like there is more more back towards the firewall vs the radiator in the pics...

i took the brackets off/out to grind them to put in oversize alternator...cant say with 100% sureness that i needed to remove them otherwise....but i do know i went thru the bottom

Watevaman

Also related, but is the alternator for 96 unique or something? The one I took off and the one I bought have 3 connections: one up top and then two down low. None of them utilize a clip harness or anything (they're on held on by nuts) and there are two outside posts on the bottom which I assume are grounding posts, but those definitely don't help with getting it in and out.

Watevaman

Sorry for double post, but here's a pic of what I'm talking about. Do all the alternators have the circled areas? I think I could slip it out the front a little easier if the one wasn't there.


Probably coming off as a wimp, but this thing is just getting to me.

rzldzl

my old one and the aftermarket one i put in



looks similar enough to yours

Watevaman

Alright, thanks for all the help. I'm gonna call it a night but gonna try again tomorrow and maybe call a friend over to see if he has any ideas.

bryanintowson

Just did the alternator in my 92. I didn't want to take the entire bracket assembly off so I said a few curse words and gorilla-ed it out. Put one hand on the compressor line and the other on the alternator and pulled. If I broke the line I at least would know where it was broken. Got it out without breaking it. Repeated the process for dropping the new one in. What a pain in the rear. Never again.

Firestorm500

These things are a bear.

On my '92, I bought it out from the top. You have to snake it out by turning it.

If I remember correctly, I got the alternator loose from the bracket. Then by working underneath and on top, I got the bracket loose. I was able to move it out of the way to bring the alternator out from the top as I mentioned. I did not remove any A/C stuff or the radiator.

If it's any consolation, once you get it out, it will go back in easier because it is the reverse of disassembly. You will be familiar with how it came out.

toasterknight

On my 99 it was easy to get out. Pull it off the braket moving to the passenger side, move it back about 6 inches then down.