GXPWeasel wrote:as far as I can tell, they must be a sealed bearing.... I hope not, as I've never had good luck with sealed bearings,
Me either, lol. Went fishing last Thursday evening in the middle Chesapeake. Fantastic trip, filled the cooler.
Coming home (It's 1 1/2 hours to home)...I notice my volt gauge drop to zero

I figure the boat's got 2 batteries I can swap if needed, so what I have is a dead alternator. I got 6 miles from home and my truck died from lack of battery voltage. Swapped one battery from the boat, she fired right up and I got home with no problems.
Tested the alternator, and it was dead as I suspected (first one in 131,000 miles). Replace it start 'er up and there's a hell of a noise coming from the A/C compressor. Note that the A/C was working fine and never made a sound...prior to removing the belt.
So...I remove the A/C compressor clutch to find this:
Run to Autozone, replace the (sealed) bearing and it's good as new.
