Alternator Belt tension adjustment made easy

[philstade]

I ran a nut onto the end of the long threaded adjustment bolt and drilled and pinned it so that I could turn the adjustment bolt from the engine end rather than the wheel well end. Works great. Can't imagine why the manufacturer didn't produce it this way. Of course the locking bolt and pivot bolt need to be loosened before adjustments. The photo is taken looking down from the passenger side.

P1012549a.jpg (145.48 KiB) Viewed 9064 times

[TardisDeli]

Wow, great idea. Thanks for posting pic's of your maintenance to help others, keep doing them.

Welcome to the Cult. Please update yr profile with location, if you're in Burnaby area would love to meet you. Your mechanical skills now honed would be an asset to group camping weekends ... hey kids watch me undo alternator bolts by the campfire for beer. Popular.

Have you named your Deli yet? Cheers, Christine.

[Morganizer]

I gather that adjustment of the alternator to tension the belt is so difficult because they use the same engine whether it's RHD or LHD. I bet on LHD the adjustment is simple; you just lift up the passenger seat and there it is.

Anyway, I adjusted mine today (RHD L300), and it was tricky, but manageable. Here's how I proceded:

1) lift up the passenger seat
2) remove the fan cowling (both halves)
3) jack up the front right corner of the vehicle. It is not necessary to raise the wheel off the ground. Lifting the body just gives you a little more elbow room.
4) remove the brush protection pan underneath the engine (2x 14mm bolts and 4x 12mm bolts)
5) loosen the alternator mounting bolt from underneath the vehicle using a 12mm socket and wrench
6) from the top of the engine, reach in past the fan (keys are in your pocket, right?) and using a 12mm socket and wrench with the long extension between the blades of the fan, loosen the bolt that secures the alternator in position.
7) go to Lordco and pay $17 for a ratcheting 12mm box wrench. Honest to god, I don't see how this job could reasonably be accomplished without it. Or we can have a belt-tensioning meet some time and you can borrow mine. From beneath the vehicle (not through the flap in the wheel well) rotate the bolt clockwise (righty-tighty) to tighten the belt. Conveniently (perhaps an oxymoron in this context) the belts are right there so you can poke them with your left hand as you tighten the bolt with your right. It's tempting to tighten them "once and for all!" but observe the cautions about over-tightening and stretching your belts.
8) go back out the way you came in, tightening everything you loosened, and putting back everything you took off.

The adjustment only took about 15 minutes...if you don't count the trip to Lordco and the time I spent earning that $17. And scouring the Internet for someone who had done this without modifying the vehicle, removing the driver's seat and moving the power steering pump out of the way, or pulling the engine because they happened to need an overhaul anyway. Oh, and the time spent pushing tools half way into various orifices on the vehicle and muttering swear words. But I actually enjoyed that. The thrill of a challenge.

[JMK]

Thanks for taking the time to make this post. As it's been more than a year since I did mine last, I had to look it up again and it seems this method should be better than whatever I did last time.

[bosc]

I sweated with tensioning the alternator for some time before buying the "magic tool", thus making the whole process simple.
12mm ratcheting box wrench with an adjustable head. $22 at can tire.
No seat removal, wheel removal of vehicle jacking required. All bolts were reached for underneath. The lowest bolt needed any 13mm rather than 12mm.

[almac]

yep. I need to do this mod to tessen.
she needs her belts tightened up a bit. when she's cold(or after its' been raining) she squeals a bit after startup.

[lrp374]

philstade had a great idea. I had to tighten my belts and after the under van route a few times I was determined to do it from the top. I removed the cowling and fan blade and thought I could reach the bolt to tighten it. It did not work with about every kind of wrench you can image. I remembered this post and saw the end of the bolt staring me in the face. I removed the bolt added a nut welded the nut on the end and had everything back together in a few minutes. Next time I need to tighten that belt it will be a nice clean 20 minute job. Why I didn't do it before is beyond me.

[sub-arctic]

i use a stubby ratcheting box end, take the fan off the clutch and fan shrouds out, and if you kneel in front of the batteries and reach waay waaay down you can reach it, no welding, or messing around required. I am a stubborn airplane guy, I know my fair share of nightmare access. my +3 ape index also helps the orangutan reach to the bottom of the engine!

It can be done! in about 15-20 mins if you giver. I learned this from doing it too many times chasing a squeal that was something else

[lrp374]

The stubby gear-wrench was one of many tools I tried. Glad you got it to work. I used most of my vocabulary as well as the stubby and I still couldn't get more than about a 2 click turn. You must be double jointed!

[Morganizer]

Sub-arctic: what was the other squeal? I've tightened my belt and there's something else squealing when the engine is cold. Could it be the a/c compressor? Do I need to lubricate it periodically?

[sub-arctic]

I honestly haven't found the other squeal yet, its not power steering or AC compressor as i pulled those belts and it still made the noise with them off. I am almost wondering if my "squeal" sound is a loose baffle bouncing around like crazy in my exhaust when the resonance from the engine is just right. thats the latest thing to potentially chase. I have learned to tune it out for now haha