Need advice on alternator rebuild!

Yeah that 210-1065 reman is what I have being shipped to Napa by Friday hopefully.
Shoutout to @shifty` for the suggestion to ask them.

I believe right around $310 including whatever core deposit/refund will be.

Would've been cool to learn to rebuild mine for way less but didn't want to chance it with the quality/source uncertainty - so just learning to replace whole thing this weekend!

Ya'll think this 130 could power an amp for three 10" subs in the future?

Or is that a whole other discussion

 

Save the old, rebuild it. Now you have a backup.

Meanwhile, one 10 is plenty for the cabs of these trucks.

 

I confirm this too btw. Aren't you glad you asked and didn't buy something lesser?

​

 

If 130 is not enough, here is a 180A option.
https://sdhqoffroad.com/products/03-09-toyota-4runner-180-amp-hp-high-output-alternator

 

180A alternator for a truck that has a 140A alternator fuse...

 

Might require additional upgrades.

 

Well it was a successful 4 hour learning experience!

Alt swap is done with the help of YouTube University & I was nervous about the belt but was pretty easy thanks to the thread & diagram that @shifty` referred me too so thanks for that!

I'm in the middle of the new alt break in process & to my dismay I'm still seeing the voltage guage fluctuate a little bit, though not as severe as before.

But, before my battery & alternator took a shit my volt guage always stayed dead nuts right below center

 

Mine fluctuates also. I posted a picture/vid of it on here somewhere. I don't remmber that happening before my 1st alternator burned up, but maybe I'm nuts.

Basically, my factory 130A caught fire in the low-mid 60k miles, within day/sweeks of me buying the truck. I had to travel for work the next day and didn't have time to deal with it so I dropped it off at a shop I trust and had them do it, told them to only use Denso parts, which they did, but they installed a 100A and it fluctuated pretty significantly after, which led to me chasing some random stuff down.

It got significantly better when I went back to 130A. Still fluctuates periodically.

I will tell you though, corrosion in the terminals will lend to that stuff also. https://www.tundras.com/threads/1st-gen-psa-clean-your-battery-terminals-you-lazy-sods.131635/

I wouldn't be surprised if corrosion inside my cables helped lend to that alternator failure.

 

Holy crap man! Like literally caught fire??

I just got my DC in December & think I would've died if that happened to me.

Did it damage anything else?

& ah, I see you have a fun history with alternators given that & the auto shop lol... wow

Now I know why you're pretty well-versed on the topic

& that is some serious corrosion !

Might look at replacing my cables if this issue continues & def before I think about adding some bass in my truck.

Think luckily I may have spoken too soon though, as last night, after starting and idling my truck a few times with heater/ac going, & then driving around a little, now otw to work things seem to have stabilized.

Time will tell!

 

Literally caught fire, internally. Didn't burn up the harness or wiring, thankfully.

It was clear the engine at one point had cam seal leak, and I'm wondering if oil had maybe gotten inside? Not sure. PS pump is just above the alt also, and that's using ATF, so maybe some leaked at some point? I really don't know... No other obvious damage though.

I'd like to replace my cables and start new. The pain of doing it properly, splitting looms, rerouting stuff ... I'm really not looking forward to it. What I will end up doing, when I wire my amp up in the near future and update terminals, is splice back the ends to fresh copper at the battery, at least.

 

Damn. You saying that makes me nervous because I noticed it was a bit oily in there during the alt swap. I have a small rear main seal leak too to deal with. Just gonna pray on it for now lol

& yeah that just sounds like a pain in the ass good luck with that when you get to it.

Thanks again for all the help with my alt, really appreciate it brother!

 

Might try a bottle of AT202. Shifty swears by it.

 

RMS leaks are the main way I found ATP's

$20 AT-205 Re-Seal Stops Leaks, 8 Ounce Bottle

AT-205, actually. Has a knack for solving that issue. A couple of hardcore gearheads on Ih8mud forum swear by it. I'm shocked to hear anyone having RMS leakage problems with the 2UZ though. I know one person on here the entire time I've been here who had it. You sure it's RMS, and not the half moon plugs on the heads or valve covers?

 

Well, I specifically took it to "the" go to independent toyota shop in my area, & that's what they said it was after looking at it was the RMS.
Which I'm really not looking forward to tackling myself.
But that was just the leak towards the bottom.

I'm thinking the leak I saw when I replaced my alt is the valve cover gasketslike you're talking about though.

Got a couple leaks to deal with

Aaaaand just crossed 200k miles so I'm gearing up to do my LBJ's, & I guess should do the ubj's while I'm at it? Anything else?

 

& oh yeah as far as the RMS... I should try that

$20 AT-205 Re-Seal Stops Leaks, 8 Ounce Bottle

AT-205 first huh?

 

I would. It's not going to hurt anything. I'm fairly sure they guarantee it won't overswell any gaskets.

 

UBJ are a PITA, at least for 4WD. I would only replace if they're shot. Any time you touch balljoints or struts, disconnect the swaybar links before you jack up.

 

Ok noted ty!

So lbj's & ubj's don't need to be replaced at same time?

Unless like you said if they're shot.

I've just seen all the horror posts saying to do the lbj's asap if you purchased an older truck & was wondering if the uppers were necessary with them, & if stuff like tie rods & bushings etc.. were also necessary or if I can do all these things progressively over time

 

My UBJ (which were factory-original) were fine when I overhauled my suspension. LBJ, I later found out, had probably seen better days and had been replaced under recall a few years after purchase.

Look - take it or leave it b/c this is just my opinion - but, it's clear from ample evidence the LBJ is the achilles heel of the 1GT suspension. It would stand to reason, then, that the UBJ doesn't see as much fatigue/stress, and would last longer.

 

You're the man @shifty` appreciate your input!

 

Just going to add, I just replaced my upper ball joints (208k miles). I only replaced them because I already had the steering knuckles off the truck doing other work and figured it was in my best interest to swap them out. They were easy to replace, but I did not use a ball joint press. I used a shop press to do it with a ball joint adapter set. If you have your steering knuckles out already, and have access to a shop press, you might go ahead and do it.

I have heard multiple people say replacing the upper ball joints with a ball joint press is difficult though.

 

Having also had to do it myself recently, and us both having 4WD, here is my 2¢ to add onto your experience, similar to mine:

• I used a standard 3-in-1 style BJ press kit I've had for a couple of decades
• My UBJ were a bitch to press out (at least on 4WD trucks) with the knuckle installed, even with damn near everything disconnected, using any of the myriad of kits available on scAmazon or at LAPS, which are essentially all the same thing in diff't blow-molded boxes
• I had the UBJ pressed out in, like, 2 minutes, with the knuckle out and sitting on the floor of my garage, using the same kit
• I've seen videos on YouTube of people pressing theirs out with the knuckle installed, they make it look easy, but there's a lot of adapter juggling b/c most kits require at least 3 pieces to be juggled inside the c-clamp press to pop the BJ
• It took me an extra ~7 minutes per side to pull the knuckle with a cordless impact, and half that to reinstall

Now, given he's 2WD, maybe it's more reasonable to swap out? If I didn't have to pull my CV axles, and my LBJ was already going to be loose (and thus the tie rod disco'd), and I'd disco my swaybar as one always should when touching front suspension ... you're basically just pulling the caliper (2 bolts?) and popping off the ABS/WS sesnor to remove the f'n knuckle, eh? (that's 2 more bolts for the sensor).

While in there, I mean, I'd be hard pressed not to update the struts, but ... that's also adding another ~$900 if you get them pre-assembled.

 

Yeah, UBJ with the knuckles out is definitely the way to go. I wouldn't have done it if the knuckles weren't out already.

 

Wise, for sure. Anyone who was hanging out in the 'What'd you do to your Tundra..." thread saw, I had to bail on my 1st attempt. Granted, I was sick as hell the day I went to go pull them, and delirious, but I musta spent about 2 hours finagling, trying to get the damn UBJ out without pulling the knuckle, and that was only on one side. Factory UBJ also. I inspected it closely after, and while it only had around 75k original miles on it, it looked practically new, save for some caked grease, grease was in good shape, no play in the joint at all.

 

Damn @shifty` I see you're popular around here, being you were mentioned in that "so you wanna buy a 1st gen" thread lol


I just ordered my lbj kit from mcgeorge.
Gonna get these bolts
9010512316

Do I need to get any specific thread sealant if at all for those..?

 

Loctite brand is fine. You'll see a lot of people use red, which requires heat for removal. I personally go with blue and torque to spec, because it doesn't require heat for removal like red does. But I go one step beyond, take a yellow marker, and draw a line where the bolt head meets the part, and any time I'm under the truck, I'll check those bolts to see if the line is broken. Given I'm changing the oil at least once a year, if not once every 5k miles (full-syn), and I crawl under the truck for various stuff a couple of other times per year, it lets me easily gauge if a bolt backs out. I pretty much do this with any critical bolts on the truck I replace or uninstall/reinstall except stuff that'll cause obvious problems like caliper bolts.

 

Awesome thanks for the info & advice sir!!