FriendOfEvanWilliams

So I'm replacing my alternator on a 1990 Comanche, and I am running into problems. I know all I have to do is disconnect the electrical connections and drop it out, but my problem is this:

I cannot remove the battery tray, the nuts are rusted bad, and it seems like I need a 15mm socket which my set conveniently does not have. 14 is too small, and 16 has too much give. I would go through the bottom, but a skid plate blocks all access to the alternator and guess what? The nuts holding the skid plate are rusted on. So I have only succeeded in loosening one of the bolts holding the alternator on, and it will go no more. I cannot access the other bolt to see if loosening both a little at a time would help.

Any suggestions are much appreciated. I have some PB Blaster on the way, but I have a feeling it won't be quite enough.

djb383

IIRC, gotta at least loosen the alternator bracket as well.

freegdr

Sawz all the bolts off that hold on skid plate then get new ones its gotta come out the bottom anyway aint nothing goes out the top any way ...

Dan91

How about a 9/16"? That's in between 14 and 15mm

FriendOfEvanWilliams

I borrowed a 15mm, along with a much sturdier wrench, and a can of PB. Ran out of light, however, so it will have to wait until sunrise to keep going. I hope I don't need to sawzall the bolts, but I could borrow one if need be.

jeepride

Buddy of mine just changed his altnernator on 00 xj 4.0 all he removed was the fan blades alt. came right out no problems.

x91evo

I removed the whole bracket for the alternator.
it isnt that hard.

Also I broke off the battery tray bolts, ended up drilling a hole and using a new set of nuts and bolts to hold it down again.

BatmanXJ

Mine comes out with a little wiggling in the top with box still there. first time I had to use a crowbar to pick engine up some. Turns out the reason for that was my motor mounts were gone. After I fixed that It came right out the next time.

Kris smith

It's so easy to just drop it out the bottom why would you try the top the skid plate is easy to re place hard ware on a rusted battery box will be harder

FriendOfEvanWilliams

So I am going to try heating the nuts with a blowtorch, spraying them with cold water, then a good dose of PB Blaster. If that doesn't loosen the skid plate nuts enough, I will acquire a Sawzall or Dremel tool and just cut the b@stard off. The ten mile walk home from work is nice, but I would like to get my car running soon. Even if I have to cut the bolts, I can at least be able to use my truck to go get new ones.

freegdr

91 and down is different than 92 and up guys gotta go out bottom .

FriendOfEvanWilliams

Finished! I took off the fan, and the skid plate, and that got me all the room I needed. I had to get rid of the plate, however. The bolts on the passenger side were too corroded to remove, so I ended up breaking it off. I'll keep an eye out for somebody parting out a Cherokee, but I'm not doing any off-roading so I'm not too worried. Thanks for all the help!

The Rooster

Glad it's fix did it fix the other quirks you had as well?

FriendOfEvanWilliams

No, I figured that was too much to hope for. I'm pretty sure that all the wires are just rusted. Everything else is.

FriendOfEvanWilliams

So I made a stupid mistake and apparently did not tighten my fan well enough, because when I started her up last night I heard a strange sound. Popped the hood, and noticed the bolts were loosening themselves very quickly. One fell out, even. So I left it where it was for the night so I could get my tools.

I just need to tighten the bolts more, and take car that the tension is evenly distributed between them, correct?