I had the pleasure of replacing my alternator last night and while it went pretty smooth with Utahfj62's instructions I had interference issues with the power steering pump pulley that i fell is worth noting. So at 93K mine quit luckily right in front of a Firestone service station (well within a block) . One of the service techs brought a jump pack and we got it running long enough to get it to a their parking lot. Nothing coming from the alternator just as we finished testing it the truck died because the battery gave up its last. So I grabbed a battery from them. My OEM jack tool kit luckily still has the wrenches, screwdriver and pliers which helped get me sorted. Drove home and found one in town. I know its a reman aftermarket and they don't have the best life expectancy but it was all I could get in an hours notice and we are leaving for the weekend. So done is done and she is running again.
So quick search lead me too Utahfj62's post and away we went.
"I replaced my alternator tonight - it was really easy - a two banana job.
I was surprised at how easy it was to do. I read the FSM before hand and it had a bunch of extra steps that were not necessary. The FSM tells you to drain the coolant and move the hose going into the bottom of the radiator - I found this not necessary. It also suggests to remove the pulley from the power steering pump - also not necessary." - Utahfj62
So here were my steps.
"There was a lot more room to work under there than the FSM states. I had plenty of wiggle room to remove it. Entire job took 1 hour. Now I have bright lights on my dash, no more failing bearings and volts are back up to 14 - it was running approximately 13 and you could hear and feel the bearings failing." It is very tight down there. There are a lot of sharp edges and it is a bit painful at times. But it will come out. there were moments I didn't think it would make it. The hard lines right below it seem in the way but it eventually made it past with some Tetris moves and a little pulling.
All in all not to bad took me about 1.5 hrs
So quick search lead me too Utahfj62's post and away we went.
"I replaced my alternator tonight - it was really easy - a two banana job.
I was surprised at how easy it was to do. I read the FSM before hand and it had a bunch of extra steps that were not necessary. The FSM tells you to drain the coolant and move the hose going into the bottom of the radiator - I found this not necessary. It also suggests to remove the pulley from the power steering pump - also not necessary." - Utahfj62So here were my steps.
- First - remove the battery cables. You don't want to shock the crap out of your self or weld your wrench to the side of the engine block.
- Remove skid plates. I only removed the front one
- Take 14 mm wrench and place on pulley tensioner - pull towards passenger side to remove tension on the serpentine belt - slip the belt off.
- Remove two 14 mm bolts on top and bottom of alternator - top is a nut - bottom is a bolt. '06 - we have 2 nuts and a bolt. one 12mm nut on side too. Also at this point also loosen the power steering pump bolts so the ps pump will slide forward about 3/8". I could not get the alternator off the two studs due to contacting the ps pulley. slide PS pump forward and off it came.
- Remove two clips on side of alternator - they are simply holding the electrical line in place and out of the way of the serpentine belt. Pinch the back of the clips and push them out of the alternator clip.
- This should allow you to wiggle the alternator forward and off the mounting bolt on top. Carefully push the coolant lines out of the way to gain access to the two connectors on the back.
- Carefully remove the grey plastic cover over a 10mm bolt. Take a small pocket screwdriver and twist the cap loose then it slides off - exposing the 10mm bolt. Remove bolt and cable attached underneath bolt.
- This should now allow you to turn the alternator around to access the plug on the back side or cabin side of the alternator. It has a tab on the top side - press the tab in and wiggle the connector side to side - carefully backing the cable out of the alternator. This took a while for me to do - it was full of dirt around the edges and took some patience to work it out without damaging the cables.
- Once free - carefully work the alternator down and out the bottom of the engine bay.
- '06 there is a metal plate on the side that holds the wire clip mentioned above. switch it to the new alternator if it doesn't have one. I missed this and had to do it under the truck.
- Repeat steps backwards to get it back in.
"There was a lot more room to work under there than the FSM states. I had plenty of wiggle room to remove it. Entire job took 1 hour. Now I have bright lights on my dash, no more failing bearings and volts are back up to 14 - it was running approximately 13 and you could hear and feel the bearings failing." It is very tight down there. There are a lot of sharp edges and it is a bit painful at times. But it will come out. there were moments I didn't think it would make it. The hard lines right below it seem in the way but it eventually made it past with some Tetris moves and a little pulling.
All in all not to bad took me about 1.5 hrs
