With my A/C not working and having lost an alternator to some serious mud holes one wheelin' trip I decided I would rather have a dual alt/dual battery set up for redundency and more direct power for winch operation and power inverter supply. I will also set it up to be able to jump start myself at the push of a button through the use of a selinoid.
On to the mod... by retaining the A/C mounting bracket the mount I had to fab would only have to be solid mounts for the top and bottom as the idler pulley has the adjustment.
By using a straight edge agianst the crank pulley and a tape measure I figured where the A/C belt would have to run and where the mounts would have to be to keep the alt lined up. I held the alt up in the general area of the mount with the belt on it and the tensioner pulley set in the middle of its travel I was then able to estimate the distance from the the lower mount to where the lower mounting bolt should be. After doing the math for the distance from the straight edge on the crank pulley to where the forward most alt mounting surface for the lower bolt had to be I started to fab the lower bracket. I started with the plate that mounted to the A/C mount and drilled the holes at a distance that made the forward edge of the plate 1/4" forward of the alt mounting point to accomodate the plate that would be the front plate of the lower bracket. After tack weling the front plate on I checked the approximate location of the alt and drilled a hole for the front plate. I checked to see that the alt and front plate stayed square to the crank pulley and made the rear angle iron part for the lower mount and tacked it in place. I pulled the braket back off for final welding.
The top mount sarted as just a single piece of 1/8" plate with a tab for the upper bolt but I ended up having to make some gussets around the block side bolt after finding out it had cracked across that bolt hole. I was shocked as the upper mount wasn't holding any of the weight but supporting the side ways motion.
It's all good now.
The belt runs straight and true and uses the factory A/C belt so no odd ball belt numbers to remember.
On to the mod... by retaining the A/C mounting bracket the mount I had to fab would only have to be solid mounts for the top and bottom as the idler pulley has the adjustment.
By using a straight edge agianst the crank pulley and a tape measure I figured where the A/C belt would have to run and where the mounts would have to be to keep the alt lined up. I held the alt up in the general area of the mount with the belt on it and the tensioner pulley set in the middle of its travel I was then able to estimate the distance from the the lower mount to where the lower mounting bolt should be. After doing the math for the distance from the straight edge on the crank pulley to where the forward most alt mounting surface for the lower bolt had to be I started to fab the lower bracket. I started with the plate that mounted to the A/C mount and drilled the holes at a distance that made the forward edge of the plate 1/4" forward of the alt mounting point to accomodate the plate that would be the front plate of the lower bracket. After tack weling the front plate on I checked the approximate location of the alt and drilled a hole for the front plate. I checked to see that the alt and front plate stayed square to the crank pulley and made the rear angle iron part for the lower mount and tacked it in place. I pulled the braket back off for final welding.
The top mount sarted as just a single piece of 1/8" plate with a tab for the upper bolt but I ended up having to make some gussets around the block side bolt after finding out it had cracked across that bolt hole. I was shocked as the upper mount wasn't holding any of the weight but supporting the side ways motion.
It's all good now.
The belt runs straight and true and uses the factory A/C belt so no odd ball belt numbers to remember.
