Seized Pulleys? Fan Bracket?

[NC-Grayson]

Greetings All,

My 98LX lost power steering, and alternator about a month ago. I was moving it around the driveway to the side yard when it happened. Instant loss of p/s, and the smell of burnt rubber along with it. I've been so busy with work and trips that it's been parked in the driveway until now when I have the time to do something about it.. My research in the interim however, has led me to believe it was likely my fan bracket that seized. That said, After looking deeper in person, I don't think that's the case. In the video, (sorry it's sideways), what I think is the fan bracket seems to be spinning freely. The video kinda shows the two pulleys that have seized, and the included pic points them out with arrows.

Can someone kindly confirm what pulleys I have seized, and what I need to replace to get back on the road? I'd like to take a road trip this coming tuesday 3/19, so some urgency in ordering parts here. Also....how common is it for two pulleys to seize at the exact same time? Am I looking at something bigger than what the surface shows? Is it my alternator and my crankshaft pulleys that are seized? Any help or guidance would be more than appreciated!!!! TIA

Hopefully the video embedded correctly?

 

[Mike6158]

Somewhere on this site is a thread about how to replace the bearings in the pulleys vs replacing the whole pulley. I bought 10 or 12 of the bearings on Amazon (only needed one but they came in a pack) and the replacement was extremely easy to do. Parts were dirt cheap.

 

[nissanh]

Crank wont turn without a tool. So probably it is just a frozen alternator.
You can press in a bearing but buy Japanese or good brand. Chinese bearings wont last more than 6000 miles.

 

[fooldall1]

Seems like the Alternator Bearing went? If that's the case, just replace the alternator. The job isn't the easiest, but you can find quite a few threads here on Mud that'll help. I also suggest that you replace at the same time- the Tensioner Pulley, and the Idler Pulley. If you have the time, money, and inclination.. you could do the fan clutch as well. New bearings in the front of the engine make things like new again- quiet and smooth. When you do your next timing belt job, also replace the Fan Bracket Assembly and enjoy the buttery smoothness.

 

[NC-Grayson]

Thank you all for the replies. Based on what's been suggested above, it looks like the alternator bearing is the one that went. In a perfect world, I would love to replace all of the bearings.

Crank wont turn without a tool. So probably it is just a frozen alternator.
You can press in a bearing but buy Japanese or good brand. Chinese bearings wont last more than 6000 miles.

I thought that might be the case, but wasn't even close to 100% sure if I'd even identified the correct crank bearing from the video I took. Thank you for clarifying.

Seems like the Alternator Bearing went? If that's the case, just replace the alternator. The job isn't the easiest, but you can find quite a few threads here on Mud that'll help. I also suggest that you replace at the same time- the Tensioner Pulley, and the Idler Pulley. If you have the time, money, and inclination.. you could do the fan clutch as well. New bearings in the front of the engine make things like new again- quiet and smooth. When you do your next timing belt job, also replace the Fan Bracket Assembly and enjoy the buttery smoothness.

Here's the deal. I'm at 116k and still on the original Timing Belt. In a perfect world, I'd replace every pully/bearing I can on the front end, at the same time as a full 90K timing belt service kit. However, since this is a weekend warrior. Do you think just replacing the alternator for now will be ok to get me to/from a 250 mile round trip next week? Tax season is upon us, so I don't necessarily have the funds for the entire TB/Bearings/Pulleys/90k service job, but I will within the next month.

Do y'all think just swapping the alt now with a reman'd denso, or a cheapo just to get me up the road, (rebuild my OEM while i've got the down time), will be sufficient for my planned road trip? At the end of the day, if we have to take the LS430 on the road trip, we will....but tailgating requires....welll....a tailgate.

Am I crazy for thinking I can just replace the alt and the belt for now, and replacing the remaining components after tax season?

Regards,

GJF

 

[Tres Toys]

You most likely will be just fine with an alternator and belt change. I would highly recommend getting the rebuilt Denso alternator instead of the cheapo. If you want to increase the life of your existing pulley bearings on a budget, get one of the syringe style injectors for your grease gun and carefully pump some high quality bearing grease under the lip seals of the rest of the bearings you can access. Best of luck

 

[nissanh]

Yes you can drive 250+ miles with a reman, but do t get rid of your oem alternator. I am suprised to see the alternator bearing failed at 116K miles. Just to compare, my 92 corolla at 270K, 97 4runmer 210K miles and 00 LC at 235K miles all with oem alternator. Are you sure you still have the oem alternator?

 

[aging fleet]

Are you sure you still have the oem alternator?

Mine had its alternator replaced at ~88k, they do occasionally fail early. Per the dealer records, pulley seized, destroyed the belt, etc.

 

[nissanh]

Yes, still original denso toyota. I replaced the brush kit on all 3. Old toyotas are very well made.

 

[fro20fow]

they do occasionally fail early.

All things occasionally fail but the components of that engine look beat! Rust and corrosion is the culprit here.

Similar to AHC failures. Almost always misuse and/or corrosion. The build quality on these 100s don't just fail on their own.

 

[NC-Grayson]

Thank you everybody for replies. I will not get rid of my OEM denso @nissanh ....you may remember my saga w/ the CS-144 and making that mistake on my 3rd gen - a month later went to the p-n-p to get one back. Im ordering a reman'd denso now from rockauto, and will rebuild my OEM on the bench for a spare - the $30 core is worth eating to have a solid backup for down the road.

@fro20fow thanks for making me sad now I do agree that there is some corrosion and rust. This was a 1-owner that I flew to Texas for, and has been in NC for ~4 years now. Rest assured, I'll likely do the T/B job myself, and in the down time, sand/replace corroded/rusting pulleys.

Love you all, and this place. Thank you so much.

 

[nissanh]

To replace the bearings on your alternator, you must remove the pulley nut. Use an impact. Then remove the bolts holding the housing together. You should be able to see the bearing on the front housing. Press out the old. Those are small bearings, I think it is 6203 (please check). Both front and rear should be the same. The same bearing is used at the fan belt tensioner pulley.

 

[fooldall1]

Denso, 100%.

 

[NC-Grayson]

To replace the bearings on your alternator, you must remove the pulley nut. Use an impact. Then remove the bolts holding the housing together. You should be able to see the bearing on the front housing. Press out the old. Those are small bearings, I think it is 6203 (please check). Both front and rear should be the same. The same bearing is used at the fan belt tensioner pulley.

thanks @nissanh! I assume 6203 is a generic bearing number? plenty of those options come up on amazon from different companies. Camelback lists it as p/n 9009910192. How straightforward is pressing in/out new bearings? I don't have a shop press of any means, but I do have quite a few OTC pullers and specialty tools I could probably fab something to get the job done. I'd 100% rather rebuild my oem alt myself as opposed to swapping for a reman'd denso