ok i just got home from mudding and on my way home my alt was running at 12v for the first 5 minutes then went to 9 and check guage light came on... i stopped at the store and when i eft it did the same thing... i got it home and ran some clean water through it, do i need a new alt. or will it be ok?

 

If you do upgrade to the 98 v8 Grand

 

pry killed it, spray it down with a pressure washer, try to get all the dirt/water out of it.
If that doesnt fix it, start looking for a new one. Or maybe you can get it rebuilt.

 

MINE DID THE SAME THING!!! now the bearing is going out in it...

 

I saved on by taking it apart and cleaning the heck out of it.

 

Whats it sound like with the bearing going bad when its just idleing and then when you give it some gas Russian.

 

Wound have been better to use electric motor cleaner. If you have naught to use but water, make sure to run the alternator for a while afterwards - so it gets good and hot and the springs behind the brushes get dried off (or they'll rust out, and you'll be stuck with a perfectly good alternator that the brushes don't make contact with the sliprings!)

I maintain - for the record - that mounting an open critical component (like the alternator) down low was a silly idea on a Jeep - or any 4WD vehicle! You can usually relocate it using the bracketry from the 150ci I4, which mounts it up where the aircon compressor is now (I don't know if you can get similar bracketry to relocate the aircon compressor, but it's worth looking into...)