Hello again,

I've got a rebuilt alternator but the nut holding the pulley on was loose. So I pulled it off to look at the shaft and noticed there is a notch for a key in the shaft along with corresponding marks on the pulley apparatus. But I had no key! Does one go in there like I assume it does? I would look at the old one but can't seem to get the pulley off. Thanks for any reply.

 

And if anyone could tell me how to get that pulley off the other one, I would appreciate it. I don't have power tools.

 

Either buy a metric woodruff key or take the alternator back to the point of purchase to rectify the problem.
Ed

 

The pulley is easier to remove WITHOUT POWER TOOLS while it is still in the car and has the belt still attached/tensioned. If not you'll have to improvise some way of holding the pulley while loosening the nut that DOESN'T destroy or even scratch where the belt contacts the pulley.

 

I thought of that, but it was after I had taken it off the car! I called pepboys and they let me run over and zipped off the old pulley. What's funny is that both alternators that I had (the bad one from the car and the rebuilt one) both were missing the key for the shaft. Does it really need one? I found one in pepboys (a key) that did the job so I put that in there just in case. Figured it couldn't hurt.

 

Having a known good key on your alternator shaft should be comforting. I find it odd that both the keys on your old and new alternator went "missing" at pep boys.

 

They didn't go missing. The first one I ordered off ebay from a fellow who had rebuilt the whole alternator. When I got it, it had the loose pulley and no key. The second came right off the car and I watched the guy at pepboys zip it off with the gun. It also had no key! ???