Screaming Fan belt/Interesting electrical issue

I'm a little stumped, so I thought I would post this to the guru's on the board. History: 73 CJ5 232. Sat for about 10 years and now I'm trying to get things back into shape. Here's my issue.
Things started out with a noisy fan belt. So I replaced the belt, it's old, no big deal. Then the noisy fan belt became a lound screach/scream when I reached the upper end of the rpms prior to shifting. Spoke with a friend, he said the bearings on the water pump might be the issue. Replaced the water pump this weekend. Now I get the screaming if I give it a little extra gas. I checked the pulley on the water pump, looks true.

I also noticed, prior to replacing the water pump, there was a strange click/tick every so often coming from underneath the dash. I also noticed when the click/tick occured, the amp meter jumped. Sometime forward, sometimes backward. Anybody have any clue? Do I need to replace my alternator? If so, I do plan on putting some toys on eventually, but lots of work before the toys get involved. Should I just replace with a stock until I'm ready for the toys, do you think these problems are related?

TIA,
Stew

 

Could be the alternator bearings are shot. Did you happen to give it a spin when you had the belt off? I don't know if that would affect your amp gauge though.

 

maybe the tick is an electrical connection grounding and sparking. that may effect the amp gage cause a heavy load on the alternator and cause the belt to squeal?

 

I would remove the belt and check the alternator spin as Posimoto suggested. if it seems to spin correctly, you may want to check your connections that relate to the alternator. Thru the years some connectors might have been replaced with crimp connectors or loosened. If one of the connections is loose or overheated it can cause a resistance, causing a voltage drop to the alternator making the alternator think it's time to go into full charging mode, thus, the scream. The last time I had this happen on a co-workers 73 CJ the problem was at the amp meter. Check for a voltage drop both sides of the amp meter. The click could be a result of, or even the possable cause of the problem. It might a be good idea to crawl under the dash and start grabbing componets to located the click. Maybe the turn signal flasher or a added relay. I enjoy electrical, this one is interesting. Good luck to you ! John

 

I had what i thought was a slipping fan belt but it turned out to be a manifold leak it would make a squealing noise when the manifold vac was very high. it went away when i tightened up the manifold bolts. Just another thing to check out.

 

I did spin the alternator when the belt was off. It spun very easily and no wobble. I do have to say the tick isn't related to RPM, seems to be nothing related to when it happens. The squealing is the only thing RPM related and consistant.

 

hay i got a 75 broco an the ammeter dose what ur talking bout when the flashers are on my jeep never has doon it but i dont have any flashers eather just a though

 

My belt on the MB would squeal and the guy at the part store said that it might just be a pully glazed up. He suggested that I use a little valve grinding compound on the pully. Just smear a little around your pully surfaces where your belt would ride and fire it up. It's a little messy, but it worked perfectly on mine.

Jim

 

just what i was thinking. i had the same issue. replaced the water pump, tested the alternator. still had the squeal. tightened the carb to manifold bolts - presto - no more squeal.

this appears different, though. my squeal didn't always occur, which made it harder to pinpoint.

 

Did you need to replace the belt right away after putting the grinding compound on the pulleys?

 

Had another thought at 2 this morning, unplug the alternator and see if you still have the scream. (duh me, huh?)

 

Ok, so I put some of the grinding compound on the water pump pulley and found the top bolt to the alternator was stripped and not grabbing on (thanks to a helper). This eliminated the screaming at lower rpms. Now I'm getting the scream at higher rpms. Normally with the 3 spd, I can rev 1st up to about 30mph. It was screaming at about 20mph, now it's at about 25mph. More suggestions?

 

My best guess is you are not getting the belt tight enough, based on your last post. If the belt isn't new, get a new one and use a little leverage on the alternator when you tighten it up.