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Brecklundin · 11-19-2020, 04:08 PM

Have a simple question while I take a break getting ready to install a new alternator ('97 460 v8). I can't find my service manual (I have the Ford manual for the '97) but put it somewhere "safe" of course.

I've moved all the hoses so I have a clear as possible access to the alternator. I'm not sure the best way to remove it. I know this is silly but everything just feels weird working on it backwards.

1.) Which bolt is best to remove first, top or bottom?
2.) Tensioning the belt when I put it back in...best method? I'm confused on how to get to the bolt to tighten it with one hand trying to hold the alternator in place AND reach over the top to the front to tighten the bolt.

See, silly questions...basic as heck too...it's easy from the front but I'm a bit baffled having it backwards....

thanks!

subford · 11-19-2020, 04:43 PM

Here is all the 1997 Shop Manual says.

Brecklundin · 11-19-2020, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by subford

Here is all the 1997 Shop Manual says.

Mr Subford... ur beyond awesome! thanks. just what i needed.

oh, of course i just dropped my ratchet while getting to lower bolt and it didn't hit ground and my magic magnetic pickup tool can't quite get to it...

subford · 11-19-2020, 05:01 PM

I also added another PDF for the belt in the above post.

Brecklundin · 11-19-2020, 05:12 PM

excellent, thank you...off to crawl around in the dirt to rescue the ratchet wrench...

Digger01 · 11-19-2020, 05:13 PM

Best of Luck Mine had a frozen bolt and had to remove the bracket and the hoses off ot the air pump and had to have the bolt drilled out. on My 97 Ford 460.

Brecklundin · 11-19-2020, 05:24 PM

oh wow, that had to be a task and a half. Ofr course I had to remove a few hoses to get them out of my way but that was just tedious and even I could figure it out.

I'm lucky everything I've worked on in mine has been well behaved. I did invest in a new set of 1/2" sockets both regular and impact along with a couple new ratchets and a big old Dewalt 20V impact wrench for chassis stuff. I sooooo wish I could fit a power tool in there...the 1/2" drive sockets help a lot thanks to the added leverage. Not sure I could use 3/8" anymore, they take more ooomph...

The top bolt was cooperative to remove. Took a little oomph but loosened up with no skin loss. Now verdict on lower bolt just yet...have to rescue a ratchet i dropped and can't quite reach with my magnetic pickup tool.

TeJay · 11-28-2020, 08:06 AM

We've all heard the saying, "The man who has the most tools when he dies is the winner." One just can't have enough tools. About the time we think we do have enough a new project pops up.

Just last month I was working on adding three concrete support pillars under a 2' wide by 30' long (8" thick) slab of concrete to prevent anymore movement of the slab. I had to add the 2' strip when we decided to add a car port for the RV.

I dug under the slab and raised it just slightly above level. Before adding the concrete I wanted to add some re-bar under it in all directions to keep is secured in place. I first tried hammering one piece of 3' long re-bar in and said NO this is going to take forever.

I've done a lot of concrete work over the years but never added concrete supports under a slab after it was built. It was either dig under the slab in 3 or 4 places and adding supports with the re-bar or tearing the car port down and making the slab wider. I'll try this first!!!!

I went into the garage to find a bigger hammer and just thought maybe the impact chisel might just work. We called it a muffler tool in the auto shop. Welded a socket onto one end of a worn out impact chisel. Using that to keep the re-bar in place I chisel impacted each (45 in total) piece of re-bar in the ground in under 30 seconds each. It took a bit longer when hitting rocks but it still worked really great. That little repurposing of a tool saved me a ton of hammering.

HarryStone · 11-28-2020, 05:33 PM

American ingenuity at its finest.

Brecklundin · 11-29-2020, 06:49 PM

NICE...gotta love challenges to do this stuff that is for sure. It's so fun to read solutions people figure out. Just love it reading them.

Brecklundin · 11-29-2020, 07:07 PM

OK, update now that I pretty much bought a whole set of 1/2" metric and SAE sockets and ratchets.

I had FUN at Harbor Freight. I am in serious list with the 14" swivel head ratchet. It made access to that lower bolt easy as it could be made.

I really never needed 1/2" tools because I had help of mechanic friends who usually just did the work while I supplied the gofer role and kept the ice chest stocked.

Now using them with the RV I can feel the difference real tools make. The added leverage is just so apparent compared to 3/8". This is why I just stocked up.

In my small town we have only HF, HD, Napa, Chief and Advanced Auto...of them I have to say I find the hand tools from HF the best feel and quality for basic needs like we have in the RV. I have had only unfortunate experience with HD tools for some reason. And yup, I know they likely might all come from the same factory in China. I'm just happy with the Icon and Pittsburg branded tools.

My grandfather was a tool & die guy from the 20s until he died in about 1995. He insisted I absorb two things. First never skimp on your work boots. He was standing on cold concrete 12hrs+ every day for over half a century. When he told me that his brand was Knapp and it was mine until the brand kind of went extinct. Next was never buy cheap tools. Back when he said that, mind he got out of Germany just at the start of WWI as a teenager. So he knew quality steel and tools pretty much from birth. So I always bought Craftsman when it still was top of the line shade-tree level tools.

I think even he would have approved of the HF hand tools...

Brecklundin · 11-29-2020, 07:20 PM

update on the alternator removal. I had a flare up on hand probs working the bottom bolt and had to limit work for a couple days. But today I dosed-up and got that bugger out.

in this rig it was really all the hoses making life difficult. That 14" ratchet actually made short work of the task though. But dang that bolt has to be the longest bottom alternator bolt I've ever tried to remove... it just kept growing and growing... thought I was in a engine bolt porno for a minute.

I had to take a couple hour break and just getting ready to put new on in. Have the bolts both cleaned and old oxidation brushed off. I'm. betting they haven't been removed since installed ca1997.

I know I might sound like an idiot who is goofing around but know that is just my stress coping and I'm actually very serious in the work I do on anything be it designing a computer network, a new SQL database system or tinkering in the RV... I'm just irreverent is all. So PLEASE always feel free to kickback in my threads and share anecdotes and solution ideas...this is all about fun to me and like always I greatly appreciate help from the experts here...

House Husband · 11-30-2020, 01:19 PM

A little anti seize on that bottom bolt, before install, will make it easier next time.

Richard

Brecklundin · 11-30-2020, 02:44 PM

Thanks for that suggestion...i was eyeing some dielectric grease I have left over from last plug change in my generators. I likely will use a different lube Because I couldn't find my antisieze left over from when I installed a new starter late last year. Just a daub of something. I did take a wire brush and a squirt of brake to it so it's nice and clean...

Quote:

Originally Posted by House Husband

A little anti seize on that bottom bolt, before install, will make it easier next time.

Richard