serpentine belt

I recently bout my 92 ford ranger, 2.3 liter, 4 cyl. with factory a/c.

After replacing the worn serpentine belt, approximately 450 miles or so later I noticed a tapping noise coming from the alternator. Brought the truck to auto zone, the sales man agrees that it was coming from the alternator. He tested it, it is putting out 85 amps out of the 90 it is supposed to be. The alternator is mounted tight, all bolts are torqued to factory specs.

After asking aroung, no one seems to have an idea why the tapping noise was coming form there. A few days later the noise mysteriously dissappered.

I noticed that the belt was starting to show wear already on the firewall side of the belt, almost as if the alternator pully was out of alignment or something. Now the first V groove has shredded off on the firewall side, something is definitely out of alignment, but there is no adjustment on the alternator.

The belt was the better quality replacement that they sell at the store, and i rechecked, it is the correct belt, I also check the tensioner to see if the bearings were worn and causing the clicking, they are still in good condition.


any help would be appreciated.

thanks

--dave