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Alternator bearing locked up on a 2016 Pete 579 outside Amarillo and I limped it 12 miles to a loves
Last Thursday I was hauling a load of pipe down I-40 when I heard a squeal that got louder every time I bumped the throttle. Pulled into a rest stop, popped the hood, and the belt was smoking because the alternator bearing had seized solid. I pulled the belt off, ran just the water pump off a spare, and crawled 12 miles to the Loves at exit 76 doing 35 with my hazards on. Got a reman alternator for $240 and swapped it in the parking lot in about 90 minutes. Anybody else ever run a truck on just the water pump belt to get out of a bad spot, or did I just get lucky?
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iris_thomas854d ago
This kind of thing happens more than people admit. We spend all our time on regular service, oil changes, filters, greasing, but we don't think about bearings until one screams at us on the shoulder of a highway. Same story with a lot of stuff in life, like your water heater at home. It works fine for 15 years and then one morning there's a puddle in the garage and you're calling somebody at 7am. The part that failed was probably ten bucks.
Running just the water pump belt to get to Loves was a smart move because the water pump is the one thing you truly can't run without, and at 35 mph with hazards you kept the heat low and gave yourself room to pull over if it let go. Nobody plans for a parking lot alternator swap, but having the tools and a little know-how turned a tow bill into a 90 minute job. You didn't get lucky as much as you stayed calm and thought it through, which is really the whole skill when something breaks out on the road.
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