Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:47:33 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Alternator Brushes Wore Out Pretty Darn Quick
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the original installation is like this ...
this is 'factory correct'. Not saying it's the best..but this is how they
started life.
the alternator pivots on a carragiage bolt.
a carriage bolt is one that has a round smooth top, with a square section
underneath, which engages in a square hole in the brakcet the bolt goes
through.
that way the bolt can't turn...........as you tighten the nylock lock nut
that is on the other end of the bolt.
The bolt is inserted from the forward, or intake runner side of the alt.
bracket..
and the lock nut is toward the rear bumper.
there is one other feature of the stock installation that does not make a
lot of sense to me.
There is a large washer under the head of the bolt, where the square part of
the bolt is.
I suppose that is to keep the square from sticking through the bracket too
far ...and digging into the round hole of the alternator the bolt goes
through.
It can work nicely without that big washer there.
It IS a tricky operation to get that bolt started from the intake runner
side through the bracket and bottom of the alternator.
I use long forcips to manuemver the bolt into place.
I have long pointed 8mm diamter 'ice pick' to push through from the other
end ..to get the parts lined up.
last step is tighten the lock nut after belt tension is set.
that works, and doesn't come loose or anything, if assembled properly, and
checked once in a while.
another way ..
conventional hex head bolt ..
with lock nut , like a nylock one..
that words nicely too.
the bolt can be inserted from the other end too, towards the rear bumper of
the van end. ..
and you just keep it from turning with a 13mm open end wrench during
tightening.
Works just fine. Check it once in a while.
Scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rocket J Squirrel" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 7:09 AM
Subject: Re: Alternator Brushes Wore Out Pretty Darn Quick
> Glad I didn't have to go through any of these contortions to pull the
> alternator. Up until now, there has been zero indication that the PO
> ever modified anything, but here the bolt here removes rearward where
> there is plenty of room to extract it. I don't see any reason why they
> aren't all oriented that way.
>
> Hardware question: Neither the nut or the bolt head have a washer
> between them and the bracket. Seems to me that since a loosened
> alternator bracket can cause quite a hub-bub that there should be a
> lockwasher of some sort, split ring or star-type, somewhere?
>
> Or maybe it's unnecessary if the bolt is torqued to spec.
>
> --
> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
> Bend, Ore.
> 1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
> 1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company in
> San Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.
>
> Sent from my kitchen.
>
> On 08/24/2011 06:45 AM, Jim Felder wrote:
>> Another way is to pull the airbox and get at the bolt head from behind
>> with
>> a long extension and wrench. Feel the long extension and 13mm socket over
>> the top of the engine from behind. You'll be able to either feel the nut
>> with your hands or with the socket as you sweep back and forth against
>> the
>> bracket with the extension. Anyway, when the socket is on the bolt, snap
>> in
>> the ratchet, place a box wrench over the nut, and have it it. All you
>> have
>> to do to get it back together is manage to get the nut and washer over
>> the
>> bracket, then proceed as before with the ratchet in the other direction.
>>
>> A long taped drift always helps get the holes aligned in the alternator
>> and
>> bracket.
>>
>> This is one of the clumsier operation on a waterboxer, bordering on the
>> insanity that is usually associated with more modern motors.
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 11:11 AM, Jim Arnott<jrasite@eoni.com> wrote:
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Rocket J Squirrel
>>> I was concerned that if I removed
>>> the nut so I could really get at the back of the alternator, my fingers
>>> would not be able to get the nut back on in that cramped area. It's
>>> pretty tight in there. Needlenose pliers?
>>>
>>> 13 mm box end wrench with a fold of electrical tape on one flat of the
>>> nut
>>> to hold it into the wrench. Magnet on a stick to retrieve it when it
>>> falls
>>> out. The second time you'll get it.
>>>
>>> Jim
>>>
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