accessory Pulley for alternator

[goodoldboat]

After many seasons of hanging on .. the alternator belt and I finally parted ways .
I have had the replacement belt on board for 2 seasons .

I looked a very easy job , drop the alternator down a bit and install the new
belt .BUT
Much to my horror I have less than 1/8 inch clearance between the block
and the pulley . The block is caked in crud ,the new belt will never get passed it
No problem . I look up some old threads and Don says popping of the pulley is an acceptable method of repair . ( if its good enough for Don its good enough for me ) I drop the starter and pull the pulley ...and clean out all crud off the block removing about an 1/8 to 1/4 of inch crud flakes .

Amazing how much rust can be formed from a small bit of iron .

Sooo very proud of myself for this quick and easy repair . I line up the
pulley and the spindle and the Key ... and to my horror I cant get the pulley back on .
its like the spindle has swollen ,once free of the pulley ( that cant happen can it ).

Please any help on this thread would be much appreciated .I am going to do battle after work tomorrow .

SECOND question is can I run the engine without the pulley attached .

I just installed two new group 27 batts so I feel i can run the engine on one battery for hours saving the other battery as house battery .

Third question .. I installed a new MM water pump two seasons ago .
shoud I see a wee bit of water from the weep hole ?

Amazing the things you see when you crawl around under there with a
spelunker lamp on your head.

[Surcouf]

so my 2 cents:
- rust / crude: just chisel it out to make room to pass teh belt
- pulley: with a metal file, round just the sharp edge of your shaft, and the edge of the pulley where shaft goes it. And with a fine sand paper, make sure everything is smooth. It does not take much at all to make pulley installation difficult, especially when you work "upside down" and "bent backward" as most of us... the "key" could have moved a little when you removed the pulley, and prevent the reverse operation: make sure it is flat, or slightly inclined toward the end of the shaft.
- battery: it is possible, especially if you need just to get in and out of the marina, and you re-charge every night... but I would recommend to get pulley back on first: shaft do not grow in size overnight

[JOHN COOKSON]

Here's what I did. It takes two people.

Start the belt on the pulley. While someone forces the belt onto the pulley with a large screwdriver turn the engine with the starter. I used a remote start switch rather than the key for better control. The belt popped right on.

ex TRUE GRIT

[Sam]

I had an alternator go out on a river bridge run about a decade ago. I have two deep cycle batteries w/600+ cold cranking amps each. Easily ran 2 1/2 hours at low speed & idle on one battery till I got through the locks and sailed to the harbor. Note, I did not shut engine off and restart while waiting for bridge lifts thinking that would require more battery reserve.

[goodoldboat]

success !!

thanks to everyone who .. I had a successful trip to the boat and got every thing installed ..


I brought the Mini dremel and cleaned up the shaft and Key way .

I also brought along a longer bolt and used it to start the pulley on , it enabled me to get pulley and shaft aligned and squared off .

Charging now at about 13.75 ...


With the Help of Ken at Moyer Marine , it was a very happy ending .