I was out of state over the weekend and wife said the alternator was going out on my DII back home. She had a mechanic friend test the alternator and battery and, battery is new, alternator is 15 years and 175k miles. We decided alternator. I only had Monday off to replace it, so had her go to Auto Zone to get one. If I had ordered another one it would have been delayed and this 2002 DII is our daily driver.

Anyhow, I got a Duralast and when I put the pulley on it, the shaft was not recessed at the bottom and so the nut did not have enough thread to go fully on the shaft. I used high-temp Permatex thread sealer and an impact wrench. It got about 90% threaded with about 2 threads of the nut exposed.

I went back a couple days after and pulled the belt and checked the pulley. The nut has not loosened. Worst case, I can always put a tack weld on it.

Anyone else deal with aftermarket alternators and the shaft be short? I just really did not have the time to return it and try and find something else.

Thanks!
Jamie

 

Did your old alternator have a cooling fan (plate, with small fins), below the pulley? Some of the new alternators don't use this type of external cooling fan anymore and it's built right inside the front of the alternator housing. Which in turn, usually, makes the housing a bit longer. Did you notice any difference in the housing dimensions? If the housing is longer and you see the internal cooling fan, remove the external cooling fan and reinstall pulley, this should give you the extra threads needed. If you don't notice any difference in housing size and you can't see any cooling fan assembly inside the housing...I'd say you got the wrong part. There should be a couple threads exposed when the assembly is assembled correctly.

I'm kind of surprised your new alternator didn't come completely assembled (pulley assembly already on).

God luck,

Brian.

 

Thanks! No, honestly if I had more time I would have gone with something from Rock Auto or the like. I got a Duralast rebuilt from Auto Zone and it did not come with a pulley. I did not see any cooling plate, the only difference was the shaft on my alternator was recessed into the housing about 1/2 inch. The new one had the shaft base flush with the housing. This difference shortened the shaft just a hair. The nut seems to be secure and no worries for now. I am keeping an eye on things. The dimensions were all the same otherwise.

Thanks!