Do you have a/c in your beetle? You are right I could get the pulley off without removing the front but I had some other issues with the alternator was why I decided to check it out. But to check the pulley with out removing it is not a simple matter with out taking stuff apart like it is in my Golf. But with my car I can see no way to get the alternator out without pulling the front off. There is a u shaped bracket that requires the alternator is pulled forward into where the radiator is mounted to remove it. To even get the rear wires loose in the car is almost impossible for me with my hands smashed down in all the hoses. It is just not worth it to do any other way as easy as the front comes off. When I am done my hands are not all bleeding and beat up.
Yes I have A/C and I can check my pulley just as easy as on the golf I have. To remove the alternator, you simply lower the A/C compressor, remove electrical connection to compressor, loosen the A/C hose that loops up and is attached via clamp near the vacuum pump along with the clamp holding it near the oil filter. Loosen other hose too that is fastened there so you have room to work. Loosen clamps on the large coolant hose (the one that goes to the Tstat) and pull it upward and away from the oil cooler and tie off with a string. Remove the passenger side radiator fan (this is the hardest part I found of the whole process) and let it hang. Cut out a piece of card board that fits in the hole where the fan was to protect the condensor. Of course you should have disconnected the battery by now, but now you can remove the alternator wiring. Remove air intake to EGR valve, remove serp belt tensioner. Remove alternator bolts. Rotate alternator out of cradle and move it towards the oil cooler or driver side of car. Now you can rotate the alternator to remove its wiring if you have not done so yet. You dont need to move it forward. You move it sideways to the nice alternator sided opening between the alternator cradle and oil cooler. Now simply lower the alternator. To install the new one, reverse this process. Took me 45 min to complete the removal.
My Tstat was not working 100 percent so I took this opportunity to replace it since I had a clear shot.
I was told that to remove the alt I had to remove the passenger side engine mount and push the engine back so I would have enough clearance between the cradle and radiator. True if you take this path. False if you do it as I outline above. I was sweating bullets looking at this job last week. There had to be a better way so I searched and found a post that said "easy, just move the alt sideways towards the driver side", well I ran back to my shop to see if that was so, and, YES it was. Had it out in no time then. Later I found a tutorial on this site (which should be a sticky BTW if I can find it again) that showed with pictures all I had just done.
In fact here is the thread
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=267691