Boy oh boy, I have been down that road.  And many others just like it.  Love that line, "Volkswagen, turning owners into mechanics for 50 years".

Dave B.

On 05/14/14, Jeff Rogers wrote:

Over the winter I took a few things out of my 1990 Tristar to rebuild/clean
up check them. Wiring harness, throttle body, intake manifold (well paint
anyways...), alternator, distributor seal, I took notes, wrote thing down
and had it all back together except for the alternator. This is where the
learning starts....

Step 1 - put in the bracket and got the alternator positioned and the
bottom bolt through put the nut on loose. Hmm.. something is missing......
2. took off nut and put on dipstick support bracket, put all nuts and
washers on and started to tighten...then I said to myself wait a
second.....the alternator adjusting arm, I need that too....##@$#@
3. Take nuts off again and remove dipstick bracket, install arm, bracket
and snug the nuts. Install the adjusting screw and start to tension the
belt, hmmmm.....if the belt is inside the brackets you can not get it onto
the pulleys.......$##*&#&&@(
4. Take off all brackets, put belt on the outside of all this, then
reinstall the nuts, and thankfully once I got a boost set up she started
right up and idled perfectly.

Each time I took the nuts off I could feel list members chuckling to
themselves. If you ever need help putting an alternator back on and you in
Ottawa I am good to go!

Hope to see many of you at Bus Fusion: www.busfusion.com

Cheers, Jeff Rogers