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Loosening the lower alternator bolt in 5 minutes when changing belts

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Old Jul 23, 2023 | 07:45 PM
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From: Rochester, NY
Default Loosening the lower alternator bolt in 5 minutes when changing belts

There have been several threads on this but I want to give some good advice that would have saved me hours. The topic is how to loosen the lower alternator bolt. I will try to highlight the key parts. I will assume that you have loosened the upper alternator bolts,

These tools are essential

flashlight
14 mm 3/8" drive 6 hex socket
****Harbor freight serpentine belt tool kit**** This is a long thin bar with a 3/8" stud for mounting a socket. The set does not come with a 14mm socket just listed. (the kit currently costs $20)

To loosen the lower bolt which is 14mm, it is absolutely necessary to remove the lower engine plastic protection panels on the vehicles right front.
Crawling under the car, with flashlight illumination you will see the bolt in question. Even from below you will not have so much room. But the serpentine belt bar with socket will be thin enough to get to the bolt. A virtue of the bar is that it flexes, so you can apply pressure on the socket horizontally by levering the bar against the auto frame. When applying the bar, you will have only about 20degree of movement each time...but you will be able to loosen it right away which is all that is required to move the alternator to mount the new belt.

I have read the other posts on this general topic. I have tried to do this job with my complete set of ratchets, sockets (1/4, 3/8. 1/2), offset wrenches, breaker bars, etc. It is virtually impossible to remove the lower bolt from the top, Trust me, going at the bolt from the bottom with the listed conventional tools is also very difficult. I do know others said that they managed with these tools. But I found that with the hf serpentine belt tool kit the bolt was loosened in 5 minutes.

Kudos to n4mwd for mentioning the harbor freight tool in his posting about this task. I am highlighting his approach as he was the only one to offer this idea and it is somewhat buried in his long discussion and not in the many other posts on the challenge of removing the lower alternator bolt,

Phil
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