A few quick tips regarding alternator replacement.

[SuperHO]

Once you get the tire off and the wheel well liners out of the way, here's a breakdown for ease of removal and replacement from a first-time point of view.

Wrangle your arm in from the top and remove the top bolt first. You might be lucky and be able to use a ratchet...none of mine would fit so I had to use a regular wrench.

Now pop the belt loose and remove the two 15mm bolts on the bottom.

Here's where it gets fun.

At this point, you should've already knocked the outer tie rod loose. You need to rotate the alternator so the pulley is facing down and the bottom of the alternator is facing the hole. Now turn hub to the right and move the sway bar end link and with a little wiggling, it'll come out easily. Installation is exactly reversed.

 

[Sammy~D]

nice tips i habe to do mine soon (batt light turns on at high rpms) thanks again

 

[BamSHO]

There might be alot of cursing and cut up hands/ arms too. I swapped out mine on my old silver 98. The engineers should be shot.


Brian Michael
98 black Gen3

 

[98SF19]

As soon as I get the $50 off code from Advance (Wednesday), I'll be going ahead with mine. Battery's the main culprit (what I'm waiting to buy), but might as well replace the 14-year-old alternator as well. Gonna try and install a Nimzified heat sheild while I'm at it. I got skinny arms and hands too!

 

[98SF19]

tie rod question

Got the serp belt replaced and that seems to have solved what I thought were alternator issues, at least for now . . .

For getting the tie rod out of the way like you mentioned, do I back out the bolt on the shaft to separate, or disconnect it at the knuckle (cotter pin below)?

Thanks

 

[SuperHO]

Remove the cotter pin and back the castle nut off, followed a generous beating of the pickle fork to vent some frustration/bust the tie rod loose.

 

[notbange]

One should never use a pickle fork on a tie rod or ball joint they plan on reusing. Damages the boot, damages the joint itself. Instead, beat the side of the knuckle where the tie rod passes through, this will jar the tierod loose without any damage.

 

[Sammy~D]

One should never use a pickle fork on a tie rod or ball joint they plan on reusing. Damages the boot, damages the joint itself. Instead, beat the side of the knuckle where the tie rod passes through, this will jar the tierod loose without any damage.

i just pop a pitman arm puller on it

 

[My_Silver_SHO]

i just pop a pitman arm puller on it

You can "rent" them at AutoZone. Works great!

 

[notbange]

That works well for the ball joints on a 3rd gen that are in nice and tight, but very unnecessary for the tie rods. Don't want to damage the threads...

 

[SHOZ123]

That works well for the ball joints on a 3rd gen that are in nice and tight, but very unnecessary for the tie rods. Don't want to damage the threads...

keep the castle nut on the end of the tie rod threads....

I used the small pitman arm puller for the tie rods. The big one for the ball joints, which sometimes did not work well.

 

[98SF19]

Finally got off my butt

At the golden gates, when they ask me what I accomplished in life, I will now be able to say that I changed the alternator on a Gen3 SHO.:angelnot:

It took me nearly a whole day. I think I screwed up from the get go by loosening the bottom two bolts before the top. I think that binded the top one a bit more. Having skinny arms, I was able to forego removing the rear intakes and surge tank, but at the cost of getting all scraped up by the wiring harness runner.

I don't know how others have broken loose the top bolt and backed it out, but I could not have done it without this tool:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/50438230/AlternatorTool.jpg
It's only about 4 inches long and perfect for getting a 1/4 turn at a time without having to worry about the stud. The sizes are not labeled, but one of them fit the 15mm bolts perfectly, so that was my (female dog).

As for getting the hardware out, I would say it CANNOT be done without either lowering the subframe or popping out the tie rod end. The removal took me about 10 minutes to fenagle it out, and reinserting the new took a few minutes more for some reason.

I was able to jerry-rig a quasi-Nimzified heat sheild - got a small heat wrap blanket from Advance (about 10" by 2' with velcro) that I was able to wiggle down between the rear exhaust manifold and the alternator. It's attached at the top using zip ties through the label tag and the windshield washer tubing anchor and is well clear of the serp.

Anyway, test drove 'er and no battery light, although I did hear a slight whistling sound. Hopefully, the Remy I put in there won't be one that I'll have to have replaced. But if so, I've blazed the trail!

 

[sperold]

What a great thread. Who knew the suspension had to come apart to get an alternator out and in?
Plus 1 on the engineering team should be shot. That doesnot sound like an engineered solution. Front wheel drive cars are a nightmare to service.