Alternator Pivot Bolt Stuck

Beachhaze

Beachhaze

Member
Replacing my alternator and damn, this pivot bolt that connects the alternator to the engine is the worst bolt I’ve come across so far, and I cant get it to budge. I’ve removed all the other hoses and connections

It’s a brilliant design with the square back against the alternator tab on the housing to prevent it from moving. There’s almost no room to pound away at it.

Anyway, I can’t get it off but the alternator pivots freely without friction (lol)

I’ve tried:
- pivoting the alternator and reattaching the adjustment bolt to reduce pressure
- creating a wooden ‘key’ that slips in the front underneath the radiator with a metal front and long wooden back I can pound with a hammer to try and pound the front threaded portion on its face to reduce thread damage
-pb blasting the front and rear of the bolt for over 24 hours
- using a clamp on the square end to try and get some leverage or pulling

Any ideas?
 

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Wow. Same. Have tried vice grips, hammer, pb blaster, torch, etc…. Thinking I might have to pull the rad to get a bit more space
 
EXACTLY what I was thinking and what I don’t want to do. Have no idea why it’s so difficult. This is by far the worst bolt I’ve experienced on the delica yet!

Let me know if you get it off and I’ll do the same.
 
Bit the bullet. Rad out and a mini sledge got it moving. Bolt doesn’t look bad at all, which is ridiculous.
 
13mclean said:
Bit the bullet. Rad out and a mini sledge got it moving. Bolt doesn’t look bad at all, which is ridiculous.
Click to expand...
Now check the alternator rear bracket: I've seen a cracked the alternator housing from hammering the bolt out. I don't think there's a better option though so fingers crossed!
 
So update: Removed the Radiator and was able to blunt force it, but only until the thread end of the bolt had recessed into the pivot.

I then got on the back of the bolt, the square head and started prying, but it’s still SUPER stuck.

Because of the space considerations, I grabbed a small locking plier, locked it on the bolt part in the rear, and smashed IT trying to get it to pry the bolt out. It’s been sloooowwww progress.

I can now twist the square end of the bolt slightly, so I PB’d it again yesterday and will try it again today.

The clamp idea may be the next step.
 
Beachhaze said:
So update: Removed the Radiator and was able to blunt force it, but only until the thread end of the bolt had recessed into the pivot.

I then got on the back of the bolt, the square head and started prying, but it’s still SUPER stuck.

Because of the space considerations, I grabbed a small locking plier, locked it on the bolt part in the rear, and smashed IT trying to get it to pry the bolt out. It’s been sloooowwww progress.

I can now twist the square end of the bolt slightly, so I PB’d it again yesterday and will try it again today.

The clamp idea may be the next step.
Click to expand...
Forgot to mention I used a punch to pop it out the rest of the way
 
I just took that meat off the alt flange when I cut the bolt, left the lower case without a scratch.
 
I’m dealing with a sheared alternator clamping bolt at the moment and contemplating if I’ll need to pull the whole alternator to properly extract the half that’s still threaded into the alternator. This is making me dread removing the alternator because I totally saw that lower mounting bolt with a square head and a tab that would stop it from rotating. If that mounting bolt is threaded why is everyone talking about hammering it out ? Do you have to get the square head past the tab before you can unscrew it ??
 
prayforsurf0 said:
there is no nut on the opposite side of the square headed bolt on my alternator.
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...because you removed the nut? Or because it fell off/was left off by someone else?
But yes, you just push/hammer on the threaded end and the alternator bolt will slide out. It's just a regular long bolt, except for the weird square head.
And it should have a nut on the end, otherwise it can move around and make the mounting bracket hole oval.
 
Growlerbearnz said:
...because you removed the nut? Or because it fell off/was left off by someone else?
But yes, you just push/hammer on the threaded end and the alternator bolt will slide out. It's just a regular long bolt, except for the weird square head.
And it should have a nut on the end, otherwise it can move around and make the mounting bracket hole oval.
Click to expand...

Fell off/was left off by someone else. I'll have to find something to put on there because I've had the van for 3 years now and I never messed with that nut.
 
Holy hell, well I got the pivot bolt out. I didn't count hours, but I reckon I spent about 6 hours total strictly trying to get it to move. I'll spare you from every detail, but I basically went from PB Blaster, to hammer, to torch, to attempt to pry from the square head, and back to the beginning over and over again. This began last evening, so I went to sleep in the middle and dreamt about it too, woke up and carried on.

I also have this small jack hammer that I used to tap/vibrate that middle section where the bolt was seized. The alternator was pivoting easily, so the bolt wasn't seized on the ears/bracket of the alternator, just that middle mount section that's attached to the block.

I think what ultimately did it was the heat. I decided to torch the hell out of it and I just got in a comfy position and continued to torch it for a good 10 mins at least. Then I found a way to support my hammer against the axle and use my left hand as a fulcrum, and with my right hand bang on the end of the hammer so I got continuous, decent blows considering the space I had.

I was totally against pulling the radiator if I could, and thank god after torching the hell out of the mounting bracket, and then hitting with a hammer, I got the threaded end flush with the alternator. But as the metal cooled, it was very obvious that it seized up again because it wouldn't budge more and now that the square head was sticking out quite a ways and I could get a solid lock on it with the vice grips, I still couldn't budge it or rotate it and wiggle it free.

So back to torch, again, 10 mins at least. And then angle from the front of the van towards the square head, I put the end of the jack hammer bit on the back side of the square head and pounded it right out!

That was one of the most difficult things I ever had to do on the van, and it was pretty demoralizing for 95% of the journey. Winning that one felt really good.
 
prayforsurf0 said:
Holy hell, well I got the pivot bolt out. I didn't count hours, but I reckon I spent about 6 hours total strictly trying to get it to move. I'll spare you from every detail, but I basically went from PB Blaster, to hammer, to torch, to attempt to pry from the square head, and back to the beginning over and over again. This began last evening, so I went to sleep in the middle and dreamt about it too, woke up and carried on.

I also have this small jack hammer that I used to tap/vibrate that middle section where the bolt was seized. The alternator was pivoting easily, so the bolt wasn't seized on the ears/bracket of the alternator, just that middle mount section that's attached to the block.

I think what ultimately did it was the heat. I decided to torch the hell out of it and I just got in a comfy position and continued to torch it for a good 10 mins at least. Then I found a way to support my hammer against the axle and use my left hand as a fulcrum, and with my right hand bang on the end of the hammer so I got continuous, decent blows considering the space I had.

I was totally against pulling the radiator if I could, and thank god after torching the hell out of the mounting bracket, and then hitting with a hammer, I got the threaded end flush with the alternator. But as the metal cooled, it was very obvious that it seized up again because it wouldn't budge more and now that the square head was sticking out quite a ways and I could get a solid lock on it with the vice grips, I still couldn't budge it or rotate it and wiggle it free.

So back to torch, again, 10 mins at least. And then angle from the front of the van towards the square head, I put the end of the jack hammer bit on the back side of the square head and pounded it right out!

That was one of the most difficult things I ever had to do on the van, and it was pretty demoralizing for 95% of the journey. Winning that one felt really good.
Click to expand...
+1 100 times to this update. Echoes my experience, too.

After working the pick it bolt back (out) about 10mm (lots of patience, days of PB Blaster, walking by the van all torn apart with a heavy heart to get the energy to try again), I pulled my radiator to get enough space to get my mini sledge and got an old screwdriver, and with a wee gap of 3mm, a couple solid blows gave me room to sleeve the screwdriver and pound away. I made sure to put back in the adjuster bolt at the top in case I got it out so it wouldn’t just drop.

Within 5 minutes of just beating the shit out of it, that satisfying ‘POP’ happened! Hell yeah! I then worked for another 5min working the alternator from its hinge.

During this time I paid for a new bolt (from amayama) and new hoses.

Here’s what I’d do different if I did it (have to do it) again:
  • I worked on the ground with some simple ramps. If you can, get that van off the ground to really get leverage. Lift, garage after hours, whatever, 60% of my energy was trying to get space to work.
  • Pull the radiator. Sounds simple, but all the working around it ultimately made a lot more work for myself.
Huge shout out to @stevenlee for the new, upgraded alternator. Simple instructions, and a perfect, no hassle swap. I simple removed the old vaccum pump nozzle cluster and replaced the new one with it (used a big old 15/16 and ratchet to do it).
 
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