Alternator bracket

[John Langford]

I need a longer reach on my alternator bracket to handle the larger Leece-Neville alternator installed on my 1999 Universal M35B. Has anyone found a good source for after market alternator brackets? I was hoping to avoid grubbing about at the nearest auto wreckers yard...which isn't actually that near. Ideally I would like to find a bracket which was about an inch or so longer and was the same curve as the OE or slightly flatter. NAPA doesn't have anything.


Cheers

[Stu Jackson]

John

I don't remember Rodd Collins talking about the need for a bracket extension on his Leece upgrade, from the C36 'site.

You might try emailing him at rcollins@maine.rr.com <rcollins@maine.rr.com>

Stu

[dprice]

John,
i am also just finishing this same upgrade.
i found the stock bracket to be just marginally adequate. System is running now with the stock bracket but I am not happy with belt tension. I looked around for a longer bracket and found one at PEP Boys.  It is about 13" long but can be cut easy enough.  It was $8.95.  I just cut it today and have not yet had a chance to install it so i might still run into some last minute issues.

I also figure that the chrome finish should add at least a knot of boat speed when under power.

I found that i had to cut the alternator foot to get the pulleys to line up.  Did you run into a similiar problem?

Do you have the new alternator mounted yet?

Dave

[John Langford]

Stu and Dave,
Somehow I missed your responses when they were posted and then went sailing in early July. Thanks for the reference Stu I will pursue it ifmy slipping belt ptoblem persists.

Dave, I ended up getting the local metal shop to make me a 1/4"  bracket long enough to allow for plenty of adjustment on the 11A1005 Gates belt. The Leece Neville 105amp alternator was in place when I got the boat so i don't know what adjustments if any were made to the alternator foot. I don't seem to get much belt dust but the belt slipped constantly with the original bracket. Unfortunately, the situation is not much improved with the new longer bracket. I am afraid to tighten the belt anymore for fear of doing an injury to the water pump bushings. I am wondering if the 105 amp alternator isn't just too much for the 7/16" belt. I might trade down to a 75 amp alternator if I can't fix this by the end of the season.

Did you get yours installed successfully?

Cheers
John

[dprice]

I do have the alternator installed.  It was a bit of project.  In order to get the belts to line up I had to cut approx. 1/4" off the foot and then use washers to shim it to the proper alignment.  This in effect moved the entire alternator rearward and close to the engine block.  So close that there was no longer room to mount the wiring cover that replaces the external regulator.

The univeral alternator bracket that I obtained from Pep Boys fit fine after I cut off a bit of it and it also allowed the alternator to be swung further out from the engine.  Since it was no longer in front of part of the block I now had room again to install the wiring cover.

I am still experimenting with belts.  I am currently trying a 1/2" belt which fits the alternator pulley (Balmar Pulley) well but is too wide for the stock crank and water pump pulleys.

Dave

[APACHE]

Dave : Try a  Gates belt #7400.  It's a little wider than your original, but a much better fit than the 1/2" that you're trying.  

[John Langford]

Any evidence to suggest that the slightly wider belt would help reduce slippage on M35B engines with larger alternators?

[Ray & Sandy Erps]

John, does your belt slip all the time, or only when it's putting out a lot of amps?  I put on the alternator that Jim Moe suggested and kept the standard belt and bracket.  It's rated at 100 amps, but I haven't run the batteries down that low to require that kind of a charge.  50 amps has been the maximum output I saw this summer on vacation and the standard belt handled it just fine.

Slipping belts could be an indication that the pulleys on the motor are worn to a degree that allow the belt to go deeper into the groove and bottom out, so no matter how much you tighten them, they will slip.  A little bit wider belt might remedy this symtom, but not the problem.

To troubleshoot this, a person might get one of those electronic thermometers that plug into a multimeter.  If there is slipping going on at one of the pulleys, that pulley should be hotter than the other ones after you let the motor run for awhile (and let the belts squeal a little bit)  If you find a hot pulley, might be worth a close examination and maybe replacement.  One more idea to ponder at any rate.

So how was your trip to Puget Sound?

Ray

[John Langford]

The trip to Puget Sound (the "latte" cruise) was great. Great sailing except in Saratoga Passage coming home and lots of available reciprocal moorage at local yacht clubs. We had three great days in a friends slip in Elliot Bay Marina. Very nice facility!

The story so far is that the belt would hold for a bit after I tightened it and then start slipping. Sometimes it will settle down at certain rpms and slip at others. I cleaned the pulley of all belt dressing, lightly abraded its working surface with 400 grit, put on a new Gates belt (still 11A1005) and tightened it down again. Haven't taken it for a long enough ride to test it yet but will do so next week. I am a little concerned that I may be overtightening.

Someone mentioned a method of testing pulley alignment (other than looking for black grit) but I can't find it using the search function. Does anyone remember who it was and where? I don't think misalignment is the problem because I don't get any black grit.