ROBinGa

Just wanted to report that I changed out my alternator and while in there the serpentine belt today. My truck is a 04 5.4 Lariat with 127,000 and yesterday the engine would barely turn over with what I thought was a weak battery. After I charged the battery for awhile I took it to Advance and they ran a full system check and the alternator didn't even show up on the meter. Confirmed what my multi meter showed as 12.6 ish volts to the battery while engine was running. Having never tackled an alternator before I was a bit leery but did some searches here and on YouTube and decided to tackle it. Very pleased to say I did the swap and it was actually very easy now that it's done. I prepared and was able to follow exactly how I expected it would go. The only issue I had was getting alt part out of the space under air intake and over the top radiator hose. I loosened the 4 bolts on the intake and was able to move it slightly enough to make room to wiggle out the alternator. Very pleased to have done this myself and saved some money in the process. Now I am getting 14.1 volts to battery with engine running and the new belt runs straight and true. Will say the original belt looked surprisingly good with very few cracks on the ribs at all. I am sure it's the original factory belt so it's my spare under the rear seat now. Thanks guys for letting me post