Third Alternator Belt in 4 Years

Are you sure the bearing isn't going bad?

 

When I rebuilt my alt I noticed that the bearings at each end of the shaft were dry as heck. What was left of the grease looked like an old geezer's ear wax! (I am feeling particularly graphic today ).

This could be putting a heavy mechanical load on the belt, meanwhile electrically the alt is still charging.


Anyway, just a thought.

 

That sounds like a combination of problems Tom, a run up test on the rebuilders bench would answer it.

I am starting to see many alternators now where the hard anodizing on the alt pulley is worn through and the pulley polished smooth from slipping belts. When this is the case, extreme belt tension is required to prevent slippage, that then over stressing all the bearings involved.

What headers do you have?

 

Hey keep it lubed up on the bearings .we have an old Irish saying in regards to making love but same applies to your bearings. Keep them as wet as an otters pocket!

 

Words to live by...

 

Oh Hell Steve.... you laid that one out just after Keegan looked at the herd of Longhorns walking the fence line and stated "Hey, look... they have labels on them". One gut busting session led into the next

 

is there a chance the belt pullys are mis-aligned?

Seems to me that would not only stress the bearings in directions they weren't designed to handle, but cause early belt wear and failure, especially if coupled with over-tensioning.

Mike

 

Lots of heat down there, I am glad to hear they are shielded!

I am just throwing out WAG's about the pulley but I am starting to see a good deal more of that now. If you look at some of the video's I made of our Run Up Test stand where I am doing load runs of the alternator, you can see when it is over loaded the amperage output goes down and when the overload is removed it goes up.... use that as something to remember when you are chasing this. If you want to experiment and you see the pulley polished shiny, scuff it a bit AFTER you locate a new one, just to see what happens.

There is a lot of wiring in play here, those miserable junction boxes that in theory are good but in practice are the source of many problems, many plugs in the wires..... To guess this one from a far is wasted time, chase down each and every suggestion as its rarely a single problem. Keep the blinders locked at full open and you will find it