DWW

I resemble that remark ;) I do it with sun power now. Remember the punch-spout for the round paper-sided cans? Turns out that I could not even special order my '87 2.5 (no AC) alt from Autozone or Reilly. Apparently there is a core shortage in LA? The Reilly guys did give me the name of the local reman shop I'd been looking for; AES in San Diego. They were willing to do a 'bearings only' job on my alt for the retail bearings cost. But after my attempts at dissassembly, they couldn't verify the old one was putting out amps. They could have repaired mone, but they fixed me up with one of theirs, with lifetime warrantee at the discount parts store price, although it required a swap out of the drive end frame to fit my model. So after a struggle to reinstall (I used a bar clamp to seat the long bolt into it's threaded hole) I'm up and running again, and seem to be charging stronger than before. There are some Delco-Remy rebuild kits available, which is the way to go, while you are waiting for the last three drops of oil to drain.

Forgot to mention, I paid$8 for the rear needle bearing at Autozone. Around $14 for the drive end ball bearing.

Unfortunately, San Diego has always warehoused out of LA, so nothing in stock to look at, without pre-purchase to get them to ship n alt down. It looks like the bad rear bearing is a needle/gland type, with the thrust taken up by a ball bearing on the pulley/drive end. I've ordered the needle valve, and will have the unit removed and hopefully broken down, when the part arrives at autozone tomorrow PM. If the grease gods smile. I'm up $70 for the B rebuild. If not, I'll probably plop the bills down for delivery on Mon. Or maybe I'll stick to my stubborn streak, and shop the port for parts, once I have the bad bearing in hand. The good news is that the 2.5 is easy access, for the alternator anyway. And my hands are beginning to regenerate, after the skin I lost replacing the high pressure steering hose earlier in the week. Thx for the moral support Stroker. Gotta love the Mj forum

oops, retraction/correction- They do sell individual parts and kits, $10 min order, when I take time to read the site. I'll give them a call Mon., if I can't find a local source.

Thx MJ Junkie. I'll run your numbers thru the phone, see what shakes out. After surveying the 'alternator' topics here, it looks like it's a Delco 10si, the basic sport truck model- no AC, with P.Steering. Any trick to pulling the bearing? Thoughts on replacing the front bearing, if I get that far? This alt-starter wholesale site I found provides info on the '87 MJ Delco, but doesn't differentiate front or rear bearing. And they sell 5 or 10 to a box. But only $2.35 each; the price of fuel in SoCal, almost pays to buy 5;) http://www.aspwholesale.com/index.php?_a=vehiclepartssearch DELCO CS121 BEARING, BALL 6-100-4W 10472207 DELCO CS121 BEARING, BALL 6-203-4W 908419

A reputable shop says I have a noisy rear alt bearing, on my '87 2.5L Sport Truck, and it certainly sounds that way to my damaged ears. Being old school (cheap, stubborn), I hate to simply replace an alternator that's still putting out amps with a rebuild of uncertain quality from Autozone. I live in San Diego, with diverse resource access, and should be able to find a replacement bearing, once I've removed and broken into my old unit to verify the dry bearing. (Assuming I can get it out- I'm cheap, but not in total denial.) Since the old truck is my daily driver, my hope is to ID the old alt, and secure a bearing replacement BEFORE I take her offline. And then do the job in one swell foop. Naturally my consumer Chilton book is useless. Can anyone point me toward an online source that covers alternator innards, dissassembly, bearing replacement procedures. Thx in advance for pointers.