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.
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