Hey guys, I've been doing some research into buying an alternator or just the bearing and seeing as the price of one is $80 and a bearing is $5, I might just go that route. The reason I'm doing this is because my belt is occasionally squeaking and while I'm sure it's not the alternator causing all the noise, I'd like to be sure of it and just fix it now if it is.


When the belt is off, the alternator will somewhat wobble or squeak a very tiny bit when I spin it by hand, nothing near as loud or bad as the whole belt when it does it but I figured I want to at least try to fix it. I just would like to not spend $80 on a new alternator that work's fine but has a little bit of a wobble/squeak.


So anyways, my question is how do I go about replacing the bearing? I didn't see a replacement pulley for the alternator to replace so I thought maybe just replacing the bearing which I could find online would be helpful for my problem. Do I need a special type of puller to get the bearing out or back in? Do I need to have a press put it back in as well? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Maybe some of the old timers here can help ya because very very few people rebuild alternators anymore.

 

From what I have researched you will need some special tools to get it all apart. I assume the bearing is probably pressed on so you might have to deal with that too. Just google how to rebuild alternator should bring up all the steps

 

brushes,other stuff + time in/out,, vs new??
i do new

 

Well, the alternator works fine and I've thought about rebuilding the whole thing such as brushes etc. However, I don't really want to do all that since it's working fine, I'm just trying to cure the little wobble/squeak it has in the front pulley and figured that the bearing would be a good way to try to do that.


I googled how to rebuild an alternator and a picture guide just showed/said to take off the bearing, as if it was just sitting on the shaft. I haven't tried it yet since I didn't want to take it off and the belt if it was something I was going to need special tools for but I wasn't sure if it was really able to be pulled off by hand.

 

I would just replace the whole alternator. I know it sucks but it's better then replacing an alternator AND a serp belt or trans cooling lines when the serp belt jumps and rips the lines apart....

If you have an advance auto nearby, you can google for Advance Auto Codes and use a 20% off from retailmenot. You pay online and pick up the parts at the store. Easy peasy. Otherwise amazon sometimes has great prices on Jeep parts. Same with eBay.

 

i will add since u gotta pull it anyway u might as well see if the bearing comes out ez!!
reversed my first position...

 

As you separate the housing, make sure the center part, (the stator) stays with the rear half. Mark where they are. The shaft has something like a 3/8 allen in the end. Holding that you loosen the nut holding the pully. Torch/heat the pulley and get it free. Now again with black magic and luck, you put the nut back on the end of the rotor shaft, back everything up nice, heat the bearing some and drive the shaft out of the bearing while not messing up the threads too much on the end of the shaft. (you CAN later dress them with a try file). Now remove three little 5/16" screws holding the bearing retainer. Again heat the aluminum housing, and well backed up working around drive the bearing out. Heat again and work the new in. There is a small hole in the back of the housing, and notches in the brush holders, and a hole at the end. You push the brushes back and fit a pin/rigid wire through the hole and those notches to hold the brushes back while mating the housings back. Once it's together you "pull the pin"

When you search U-tube or google....It's a "Delco" Very common. Their are different types, but the bearing is likely the same.

 

There are still some alternator rebuilders in business. I got a new one because my case actually cracked, probably due to a seized bearing or something. Anyway, I wish I had been able to rebuild it. Less trash for the ocean!

 

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...+xj+cherokee&*

 

Normally I would applaud anyone who wanted to rebuild their alternator. You are correct that the front bearing is only a few bucks. And tho it wasn't stated, the rear bearing is cheap also. It's the brush/regulator assembly that digs into your wallet. The brushes do wear out, and at about the same rate as the bearings. The cold reality of economics digs in when you check the usual places online and find a new, not reman alternator for under $60. The bearings, & brush/reg assembly will most likely run $50-55 total, and unless you have someone to guide you (hands on) getting it all back together can be tricky. Couple this with the fact that GM designed this alternator to be disposable, and it is, and replacement seems like a better option. I can usually find a serviceable, new-ish one at the wrecking yard for about $25-30. This model of alternator came in several amperage ratings and was used on GMs as well as jeeps, so if you decide to replace, pull one with a higher rating (look at mid 90's chevy p/u, those are usually 95+ amps). Good luck!

 

Thanks for all the info guys I definitely appreciate it. I was looking at Napa online and seen that a Reman alternator was just under $100, so I figured rebuilding it to fix the wobble/squeak would be the smarter/cheaper way to go, especially since there's nothing wrong with it performance wise.


However, I was unaware that other places online had decent brand new ones for $60, which changes the ball game a little bit, especially for the time I would have to put into it and possibly screwing it up at the end of the day and needing to buy one anyways.

 

This link was typed into my search bar well before I posted here and it provided me with no information on my OP. I know how to replace an alternator, I asked how to replace the bearing.

 

I had a '67 GMC Pickup and had that alternator re-built at an auto-electric shop. I think it was around $50 for them to take my alternator, rebuild and return to me (basically with new guts). I went that route as I was concerned about fitment. Newer vehicles (even XJs!) still have parts available so you're not really going to run into fitment issues so there's less concern about compatibility.

I think that rebuilding is fine for the learning experience, job satisfaction etc but if you do the math, if you need to buy a whole bunch of stuff just to do a single alternator, it's not cost effective. If you're going to specialize in a cottage business rebuilding Jeep alternators, it might work out! I found a guy that rebuilds fuel senders for old GM trucks and having him rebuild mine was much cheaper than sourcing a vintage part.

Just my 2 cents.

 

I agree with most here, replace with a re-man'd alternator.

One way to check for a squeaky belt is to squirt a 'little' water on the belt with engine running. If the squeak goes away, its a belt squeak.