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alternator pulley questions

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Old Mar 27, 2010 | 02:11 PM
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alternator pulley questions

i bought a 88 alt and it fits just fine but the diameterof the pulley is bigger than the one on my car. it doesnt charge right it stays at 12 and dips from there from time to time. now i want to remove the double belt pulley and put it on my old alternator but i cant get the pulley off the old alt. is there any easy way to switch pulleys? because without the air pump my stock alt squeals. hoping 2 belts will solve this problem.
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Old Mar 27, 2010 | 07:38 PM
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Without an impact gun, the nut will never loosen. There's also a special tool that's essentially a metal rod with a strap on the end. The strap wraps around a pulley and uses friction to hold onto it. I've also just used a glove and held the pulley in place with my hand while I blast the nut off.
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Old Mar 27, 2010 | 07:40 PM
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yea at the moment i just put in the old alt with single belt pulley. back up to full volts(13.5) but got the belt squeal back. i dont have an impact wrench so thats outa the question.
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Old Mar 27, 2010 | 07:53 PM
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change the belts and make sure the belt tension is snug for all the belts.
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Old Mar 27, 2010 | 08:21 PM
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^ Won't help if the airpump has been removed. With the air pump belt gone, the water pump pulley can easily break loose and make a squeal.
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Old Mar 27, 2010 | 10:50 PM
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my reason for using 2 belts onemy double belt alt. and my altwont tighten anymore because the single belt alt has a smaller diameter pulley. it goes all the way to the max on the alt adjuster. and i am using a brand new gates belt.
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Old Mar 27, 2010 | 11:38 PM
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well the belt squeaks because you can't tighten it enough. you can get a different size belt. just take the one you have to the auto store and try one size smaller. you may have to try a couple of differnt sized belts so you can get the right tension. I had to do that when I upgraded to the FD alt and got a dual pulley for it. My old belts were just too loose and the adjustment was maxed out also. once I got the correct size belts the noise went away.......
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Old Mar 28, 2010 | 10:30 AM
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i always just ask for rx7 belts. thats a good idea thank you. i will go down today and see what i can pick up.
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Old Mar 30, 2010 | 08:12 PM
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Exclamation argh, new problem now...alternator volt dip while driving

i have had 2 different alt both tested good and when driving my volts gauge will dip to 8 then back up within seconds. it done this with both alts and all wires are good as it seems and battery properly grounded. any help would be awesome. will post if fixed probably work on it sometime tomorrow. thanks

Last edited by mar3; Mar 30, 2010 at 10:31 PM. Reason: moved new thread on essentially same problem to this older, open thread...
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Old Mar 31, 2010 | 02:26 PM
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Loose B post connection?
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Old Mar 31, 2010 | 04:07 PM
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no loose connections that i can find. i looked at it today and everything visible seems fine. no rust or corrosion. maybe its a bad volt connection to the guage? i already bought an aftermarket guage for voltage so maybe this one will solve my problem. also i noticed i can move my alt belt around my main pulley (when not running) so it may be slipping bad enough to let the alt fail to charge?
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Old Mar 31, 2010 | 06:15 PM
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You should never be able to slip the belt around the pulley. If you can do it by hand, the engine will easily be able to slip it. The belt needs a lot more tension & you need to get a double pulley on there. A slipping alternator belt will cause charging problems, and it can also lead to overheating. That's the only belt turning the water pump right now, so if it starts to slip around that pulley, you're looking at a water pump that's not turning properly either. Not to mention if that belt comes off or breaks the engine will cook itself.

Look into getting an impact gun, or find someone that has one already. Harbor freight has some cheap electric ones that will work:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=92349
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=45252
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Old Apr 1, 2010 | 11:29 AM
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wow thanks RR88 its seem u now ur stuff. i will buy a smaller belt( the one i just got is too small) and use it temporaily till i can pull the pulley off my other alt. thank once again
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