Andy's Place, a field repair, and Mike's Army Surplus Headquarters

Home|Previous Page|Next Page

100_2756.JPG 100_2757.JPG 100_2758.JPG
100_2759.JPG 100_2760.JPG 100_2761.JPG
The helicoil remained in the piece. I might be ab;e to get this welded back on to save the alternator. The clamp held so far >1000 miles with no issues but I will have to replace the alt.

Andy lives a few miles west of Atlanta. He's considering some 6x6 trucks and offered me a place to stay for the night. He and his wife are very gracious hosts.

I'd thrown a belt the day before, and found only a single replacement (it takes two). Later I'd found some correct belts at the truckstop where I fueled up that night on the way to Andy's. In the morning, I arose, and decided to change the belts so that I would have two matched ones. For those that don't know, large machinery often uses multiple belts per pulley/shaft due to the higher loads placed upon it.

All was going well, the new belts were in place, and tensioned. As I tightened the bolt that holds the tension, there was a 'tink' sound and I found that the alternator's 'ear' that the bolt goes into had cracked right off. It was the worst possible thing and really unexpected.

A visit to TSC (tractor supply company) and $11 later, we were making up a circular clamp to encircle the alternator and hold it in place along the tensioning arm. Andy is a master fabricator, he really did most of the work. We had some breakfast, home made bread from hand-rolled grains, potatoes, and chicken sausage, and things were looking up. It was really a blessing to meet Andy and I owe him a big one!

Later I stopped by Mike's Army Surplus Headquarters in Talladega AL. I found a geocache by accident while taking pictures of something. It had been recently placed! I added my name to the scroll and a note where I was from.

Page 1 of 9