I just went out to take the alternator off my 1999 Z28. Needless to say it appears GM designed the mounting and installation without a thought to the mechanic.
First I disconnected the battery -, removed the serpentine belt, then jacked the car and started turning wrenches. It became apparent to me the bracket which houses the alt & idler pulley also had to be removed. Then the quick disconnectplug for the positive was easy, but the negative nut to the terminal when turned also turns the whole bolt! Well I do see another nut on the bolt under the terminal connector but wouldn't ya know my 13 mm wrench is too fat to get on it.. I tried holding the nut with a pair of needle nose to no avail. Anyone got any ideas short of cutting the negative terminal connector off as close to the nut as possible? I figured this LITTLE project shouldn't take anymore than 30 minutes.

 

Welcome to the world of working on late model automobiles.

There are far worse vehicles to work on.
The F-body is easy.

You need a set of thin wrenches to grap that stud & then spin the nut off when that happens.

Or the other alternative is to cut the eyelet off.

Think about how much money us mechanic's got tied up in tools.

 

enough that you coulda paid cash for a new SS

 

Unbolt the alternator, move it away, and unbolt the wire.

 

It is unbolted.. I can't pull the alt any lower than where it is with the negative wire hooked up. That isn't the problem. Like I said earlier when I try to take the nut loose that holds the terminal connector down, the bolt turns with the nut. My problem is that I can't get a wrench on the nut below the terminal lug. If autozone has a thinner 13mm wrench then I will buy it and my problems should be over.

 

It's disconnected! I asked a friend of mine if he had a skinnier 13mm and he didn't. However he had a tiny pair of adjustable pliers. So I put a death grip on those while he turned the 3/8 drive ratchet and the nut came loose. I had to heat the nut that holds the pulley on, but it's off as well. So tomorrow I get to install the new alternator. I bet that will be much easier than taking the old one off. The crazy thing is the car only has 33K on it. The guy I bought the car off told me he pressure washed the engine and ever since the alt was making a funny noise. He apparently washed the grease from the front bearing. At any rate the car will be back running tomorrow night,