Looks like we have a battery problem or its the alternator and the engine sounded like crap as well (symptom). I worried about spending up to $400 on an alternator as well as new pulleys and while I would be on that side of the engine, the water pump as well.
The current symptoms was a noisy scraping at the pullies, no sign of the battery charging and of course the light in the dash.
The conditions were that the terminals are freshly cleaned, a newly replaced battery that took the place of a battery that was listed good for 5 years of service.
Prior conditions was a freshly charged old battery via a battery maintainer device. The first battery stress test was performed prior and did pass, but was on the low end of acceptable. Soon after the battery's reinstallation, a required air bleeding procedure post installation of the radiator was performed. The Jeep was off to the local garden center the next day and back to sit for a few days in the driveway.
The stress test had shown an output of 13.8-14.2 volts at 1500 rpm which is lower than usual, but still better than the 13.6 noted as too low. The battery resting voltage was 12.4 volts, which was very low and not ideal for cold starts.
Realization:
The stumbling on to some information that seems a match to my symptoms. Declared a common problem, the "noisy pulley" would be a sure sign of the cause being the decoupling device on the alternator failing. A few times it would sound normal and then to turn screechy. This would seem to match the descriptions I've found from car groups and video clips. Thanks to the higher than normal amounts of corrosion noted every where else on the Jeep, it seems the alternator didn't get out of being damaged. However, I'm still moving forward with the replacement of the entire alternator, but this means I could save the old alternator by replacing the OAD. The pulley or the... Overrunning Alternator Decoupler might be replaced later on the original alternator and I'll have then a back up.
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