Alt belt tension, stripped bolt head :-\

[crazykid]

Ok, well about a month back I took my alternator out to have it checked out and make sure its operating properly (had an unexpected dead battery). Alternator was fine, put it back in tensioned etc.. Now that its gotten colder out my belt is squeeking some and I know I just need to tension it down some more. My problem is though, the first bolt you losen (the one by the tension bolt that helps hold the alternator) wont turn worth crap now. Actually, I somehow ended up stripping the head of the bolt. Ive tried pretty much everything I could think of to get the damn think loose and I cant get it to budge. The only other thing I can think is to take the whole damn tension bracket off and drop the alternator again and work from there, but I would rather not do it that way. Right now Im stuck with using belt dressing everyday to keep the alt belt from slipping and squeeling. Anyone got any ideas? Anyone that has messed with the alternator knows there is not much room to get to those bolts. Remember, the bolt head that is stripped is NOT the tensioner bolt, its the one next to it that helps hold the alternator down and you have to loosen before making adjustments. Any ideas are greatly appreciated...

Thanks, Nick

 

[hewhoisknot]

the long bolt or the short bolt?

 

[crazykid]

the long bolt or the short bolt?

The shorter one that you loosen before adjusting the tension with the longer one.

 

[crazykid]

Ive still had no luck, anyone have any ideas? Im going to be doing belts changes etc soon (120k mile maint.) so this is gunna have to come off one way or another heh...

 

[The Sick RS]

If I were you, I'd try leverage. Put the ratchet on there and put something long and hard over it. I use a hydraulic jack handle. Basically, anything pipe-like will work. Once you got it over the ratchet, go at it and see if that works, and make sure you lube it up first with PB Blaster. As for the issue of the stripped head of the bolt, get a Gator Grip socket from Wal-Mart for 10 bucks. If that doesn't work, then you're sol. I'm fairly sure it will work though. You might be able to do it without the leverage trick just using the gator grip socket.

 

[steveVR4]

Locking pliers, and get a new bolt.

 

[doug]

See if the tensioner bolt will turn without having to loosen the other one. Mine will, even when I have the other bolt tightened down a lot. It's harder, but it will turn.

 

[imptuner]

i would definately try pb, lots of it, and a pair of vice grips then replace the bolt.

 

[crazykid]

Thanks for your responses guys. I'll give these a try. Not a lot of room to work with down there though I doubt I would even be able to get a gator grip socket down there even with removing everything around that area. Ill see what I can do. Again thanks for your responses. - Nick

 

[steveVR4]

You should be able to get some vise grips on there and hopefully break it loose. I just replaced the long bolt and 'block' this afternoon, and got rid of my squeaking problem. Wish I had realized thats all I needed before buying the whole bracket along with it.