Date:         Sun, 20 May 2012 19:03:12 -0400
Reply-To:     pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Report! (was: URGENT!! Broken alternator pulley)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Just wanted to let everyone know what happened.

We were in Pittsburgh last week where I was borrowing space in my parents'
garage to swap our engine for a rebuilt 2.1 from Gary Leblanc.  (I'll post
details on that job later.)

After some initial miles around Pittsburgh, we were on a break-in style
drive back to New York on small roads when our alternator pulley
self-destructed.  One of the halves split and separated.  I promise to post
photos.  Anyways, this must have torn up the belt in short order.

I have discovered an extra benefit of having an auxiliary battery setup in
a westy.  Normally I think the alternator light might be easy to miss for a
minute or two which could result in overheating quite quickly I imagine.
In our case, I heard the *whack* of the stancor relay shutting off, looked
at the dash and saw the alternator light on, and knew immediately we had a
problem.  Shut off the engine right away, pulled over and found the chewed
up belt and destroyed pulley.

After I sent the email to the list, Ryan in Johnstown really came through
for me and took *his* alternator out of his vanagon to lend to us (a
relative of mine in the area picked it up for us), which got us back on
track.  Made it to Granny Grose's late, but it was still fun to see all the
busses and vanagons.  Today we finished the drive back to NYC.  I'll be
sending Ryan his alternator back, and I have a spare in Pittsburgh that
will be sent to me.

All in all, thanks to the kindness of strangers, things turned out quite
well!