Alright, I am new to the forums so hello all.

A friend of mine asked me to replace the Alternator and idler pulley on his 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo with the 4.0. Not being new to vehicles (mostly familiar with Chevrolet and Kia) I accepted this request.

The Alternator came off easy as pie. His idler pulley (correct me if I am wrong) was just to the right of the condenser and it was so badly damaged it had thrown all of its bearings and I was able to pull the belt off without any loosening of it. I then proceeded to pull the alternator out by means of removing the battery and the battery stand. Here comes my problem.

When attempting to put the new alternator (it is confirmed to be the correct one) where the top bolt goes through the new alternator will not fit. If anyone is familiar as I don't have a picture. The top bolt on the alternator is a 15 MM with a nut on the back side. The lip on the backside of this mount goes into the hole where it is supposed to. But the front side will not slide into place no matter how I finagle it. There seems to be something kind of sticking out from the backside of the front hole. That sticks out just far enough to cause the alternator to not slide into place. The little jut out I am talking about seems like a slightly pulled insert or something but it wont go in or out. I do not know what to do to get this blasted alternator back in. If this thing wasn't holding me up it would be an ABC type job.

I know it is difficult to diagnose over text especially with no pictures. But I am hoping this is something that is known about. I appreciate any info guys and gals.

Help me not look like a fool and my buddy get his vehicle back.

 

I feel your pain. The easiest things can sometimes give the most trouble.

I don't have the newer style alternator in hand and with no pics I am taking a blind approach.

The old one is out. Does anything look different than the new one?
Is there is a metal sleeve half sticking out from the old one still stuck on the engine bracket?

I had an alternator here I took from my mom's old 1995 grand Cherokee. If I remember right it had metal sleeves through the brackets.

If the old one came out the new one should go right back in its place.

 

I would return the alternator to the parts place. Get them to pull another one and see if it looks the same in the problem area.

If it does, then you are going to have to hammer in or grind the protruding sleeve. If it doesn't, swap yours out for the correctly configured one.

 

To be honest that is what it seems like. The thing sticking out is on the engine bracket. IF this is the case how should I go about this. I measured the spacing on the new alternator and the space available on the engine mount and the new one will fit if this thing sticking out wasn't there.

The other annoying thing is my buddy took the old alternator to the auto store already. I am going to go by there today and see if they have it still sitting around so I can take a look again and see. While I am at it will take the new alternator back and make sure it is a fit. (Make sure my buddy didn't give them wrong year or something silly like that)

 

That little piece will move, tap it in the direction it needs to go to allow the alt to slip into position.

 

The sleeve that you see there ,you have to push it out.

 

As stated, the little sleeve will move. Also, its highly possible that the old alternator is fine. If the belt was loose enough to pull off without moving the power steering pump then that would keep the alt from charging. That belt needs to be really tight to prevent slippage and non charging. The whole problem was probably caused by the bad idler pulley.

 

+1 ^^

 

Alright, just to confirm I went and got pictures of my problem just to confirm that it is what we are all talking about.

Btw, We had the alternator tested and it was bad.

I measured the old and new alternator the spacing is exactly the same. The available space is 1/8th inch too small with that little lip sticking out. Does it need to be pushed in or pulled out or what?

 

I just thought about something. In the picture I didn't provide. The sleeve on the alternator on the back part of the mount is kind of centered on the one I have its pushed all the way to the outside. I assume moving that will allow me better movement of the alternator...

If this is my issue I am going to be so peeved that I could over look something so small.. Thinking about the old one it was not pushed all the way either...

KISS.... Keep it simple stupid... One of the first thing I was taught while being an apprentice technician a few years ago... And I ignored it. Ha hope my revelation and yalls input all adds up like I think it will. Will post back later...

 

That was overly easy and I can't believe I could make that mistake. Thank you all for the help