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Gerald J.
Posted 8/2/2006 11:29 (#31956 - in reply to #31948)
Subject: RE: alternator questions


Sure, the bigger the dynamo pulley the slower it will run. Those generator pulleys were large on purpose, the same purpose as my last post.

Surely the crankcase vent pipe can be extended and routed away from the dynamo.

I don't know about welding a second pulley on the crankshaft pulley. That all depends on the original pulley. It needs to run true or it will wreck the alternator bearings. On my MF-135 when I wanted to mount a front hydraulic pump, there was a flange with bolt holes and I was able to turn a fitting that bolted on to take the hex drive shaft to the pump.

Getting the alternator belt worn and then tangled in the fan belt can't be good for the alternator frame or bearings.

I think the Leece-Neville alternator should have a longer life. I don't hear grumbles from the semi owners on this forum about alternators lasting only 100K miles. So that makes me believe there is a better product around. With sturdier bearings and brushes. I know from experience that there have been generators made for long life. Back about 1959, my dad and I were setting up a 6 volt Ford car for running a ham rig. He shopped the right place and came up with a used 60 amp American Bosch generator from a wrecked fire chief's car. It was more than half the length of the 6 cyinder engine in our '54 Ford. After a couple years of use, he bugged me half a summer to pull it off and repack the ball bearings. When I drug it out and cleaned off the name plate, it said, "Repack bearings every 100,000 miles of service." So I did and forgot from then on. When I cleaned up his place I found and saved that generator, but it was stiff.

Generator brushes carry the entire load and so the commutator diameter has to be larger than the slip rings of an alternator and brushes can wear more, depending on how hard the carbon is. I have a vintage Delco alternator book that shows an alternator with a rotary brushless exciter. That should limit wear to the bearings. And its just a matter of economics to have designed an alternator with very long life. Heat is one of the enemies of electrical apparatus.

As for bearing wear, it just might be that using a wide belt could run with lower belt tension that would be easier on the bearings. Most automotive alternators ran a narrow belt before the serpentine belt craze.

If the alternator was the only thing on a belt, it ought to be practical to mount it further outboard to get away from some of the engine heat, needing only a longer belt.

The local automotive electric shop in Ames seems to do a good job. I can't speak for others.

Gerald J.
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