Hi all, happy new year. Thought I would start Bertie up and run her for a while. Sounded a bit clattery and I noticed there seemed to be a bit of slack on fan belt. So decided to remove some shims and see if it was less noisy....... I found that the hole in the outer pulley half has been reshaped Also noticed that there seems to be a lot of space next to woodruff key on alternator shaft - can't imagine this is right so guess the groove has been enlarged. So guessing my 19mm nut holding pulley on has worked loose allowing everything to vibrate and wear away. What else is likely to be fubered? What's quality of pulleys like from usual suspects? Thanks
Don't buy a cheap pulley. They simply don't fit and have the wrong internal profile. Having bought a crap one I think I then went to Cool Air or Machine 7 to get a decent one which works a treat.
Its possible that the pulley was incorrectly assembled they last time it was off, the shims have a habit of not staying where you wanted them. Just make sure the keyway in the shaft is a nice snug fit with the key, otherwise you have got a much bigger problem, maybe a new alternator. Tony
Quite possibly as it was me when I changed the alternator a year or so ago!! Yes, was thinking as I was typing the original post, that I need to check whether the slot in the alternator shaft has enlarged or just the pulley one! Don't want to have to change alternator again!
I've just seen your pics. I'm afraid that is far worse than I understood, its terminal I'm afraid, best start looking for a replacement alternator. Not a Chinese one, get a secondhand Bosch and have it overhauled. Tony
The pulleys are junk, they always do this , pull the 2nd half of the pulley off the shaft , you can't see the woodruff key groove without doing so, then put up a picture of the groove with the key in and out
Is this what you mean http://www.machine7.com/product.php?xProd=13171 The cheap repo ones seem to be around £9/£10 or so.
Get hold of something close to original for the pulley. I managed to get hold of an original pulley at the Slough swapmeet for £1 which gave me a nice tight fitting alternator side piece, where the key was a tight fit needing to be tapped onto the shaft. And then I stuck the top piece off a Taiwanese chromed pulley on it as the £1 pulley's top half had lost one of the driving tangs, and my original pulley top half had decided to go AWOL. And dont forget that if the Woodruff key has started to eat into the shaft, you can always cut another slot in the same shaft a bit further round to fit the key. Working slowly with a Dremel tool should manage it. Also check the key is a genuine key and not a slice out of a washer like somebody had fitted in the past to mine . The washer slice/key sheared off when I tried to undo the nut on the fan without using a rattle gun (avoiding removing the engine didnt work as usual.. ) . I wrecked the pulley trying to get it off the alternator shaft as the key was smeared out between the shaft and the pulley..
Alternator shaft seems ok other than needing a clean up of all the metal dust! Needless to say, Woodruff key is totalled!
That looks a lot better, luckily the pulley has been sacrificed, saving the shaft. Once you have sourced the pulley and Key you will be back in business in no time. I would fit a new belt as well. Tony
Ha ha. Yes the thought of jiggling the alternator out again for third time in as many years was not filling me with much joy! A straight forward new pulley and woodruff key is much more to my liking! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Looks good, new pulley with 10 new shims and a new belt and off you go, go to AH Schofields, they do a heavy duty pulley, genuine ones are hard to come by I may have one, I'll check
Back on the shelf .... The basic idea of the locking ring and dry shims is to lock the whole mechanism and lubing anywhere in the setup will just encourage the whole lot to work loose ... Others may have differing opinions but why would you encourage slip ??
