Hello,

First of all, I'm not english speaking so my vocabulary is somewhat limited. I hope I can describe what I mean even though some terms might be wrong.

I've got a '95 S-10 Blazer (lovely car :) ). A few days ago I noticed that my battery charge was dropping, and after some measuring it turns out the alternator doesn't output any current at all, so I figured I should pick it out and examine it closer, and perhaps get a brand new alternator.

The problem is I'm not very familiar with this, and haven't extracted an alternator before. My question is - how do you get the drive belt for the generator off? There seem to be a wheel for tightening/tensioning the belt, how do you loosen it? Or do you just losen the alternator and tilt it to get the belt of (and the reverse for putting it back on)?

If you need to unscrew / move the tightening wheel, how do you know how tight the belt needs to be when putting it back? Any hints appreciated, I really need to get this car moving asap, since it's my only car and I need it on a daily basis [sm=boohoo.gif]

just put a socket the size of the nut on the pully and pull it it will losen the belt to get it off the alt. then take off the alt. and when you put the new one on just do the same thing in reverse

The wheel you are talking about should be the belt tensioner, It should have a spot for a breaker bar, if not a socke on the bolt in the middle of the wheel that does not connet to the block. Then you just pull one way or the other. It will losen the belt. That same pulley(wheel/tensioner) is self adjusting so you will not have to worry about how tight it is. Only the one's with more than one belt need to be tightened. (v-belts) After you get the belt off it should be 2 or 3 bolts/nuts. It may be a little hard to get out, but not to bad. If it won't come out you are missing a bolt. Then put it in the same way it came out. If you take the old one to the parts store when you get the new one you won't have to pay a core charge. A core charge is what they add on to the price because it is something the want to rebuild and the manufacturuer wants the old one to rebuild.
If you have any other questions ask your local parts store. While this is easy for someone who has not done it it can seem difficult. Just remeber to disconnect the battery. You only need to take off the negative, but I take off both. (black neg, red pos) When you start it let it idle for a couple of minutes, this will let the computer reset all its settings for the climate you are in. And it will run better.
Good luck.
Take your time
You will do fine.