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Alternator Problems


patioman
08-10-2009, 01:52 PM
Hello again,

I am restoring a 1949 F1 Ford Pickup into a street rod. I have in the truck a 302CI & tranny from a 1985 Lincoln Continental. I am trying to stay with a serpentine belt system. I have eliminated the AC compressor for now and put an idler pulley in it's place. The smog pump is gone all together. I purchased a new 1-wire alternator and installed it. After about a month of starting the truck up once in a while, the rear bearing went out. I had purchased a chrome water pump pulley also and installed it. This to went out. The truck hasn't even hit the road yet. My belt tensioner was in the middle of the tension range at the time. I have since went to a longer belt and my tensioner is now outside of the tension range on the low side. I replaced the alternator with a new stock one as well as the water pump pulley. The alternator pulley has come loose several times. I would use an impact wrench to tighten it back on. It came loose one last time and I found the threads on the armature shaft and the nut to be gone. I have used all the original brackets & tensioner. What is causing these problems?

Thanks.....

patioman
08-10-2009, 05:00 PM
Thought I would add a little insight. The 1-wire alternator that I purchased, came setup with a single groove v-belt pully. This alternator may not have been built to withstand a tensioner system.

Also on the second alternator that was a factory replacement, I used the nut from the chrome alternator which looked a little thin to me. This may have caused it's failure....just thinking.

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