Alternator Belt Problem Solved!

[ncsawyer]

I think I finally got my alternator belt issue fixed this evening.  My mill is about a year old.  The first time we cranked it at the dealership it shredded the alternator belt within 10 minutes.  The drive pulley was way out of line with the alternator.  We aligned the drive pulley and put on a new belt only to have it try to walk off the end of the alternator pulley, so we tried again and thought we had it right. 

I got home and that belt came apart very soon too.  I put a third one on it...this time I checked the alignment of the alternator pulley and drive pulley with a straight edge and adjusted the drive pulley to where it was spot on.  That belt lasted about 100 hours. I took it off this evening. That is it below. The old one is on the bottom and the new one is on top.


 

I checked the pulley alignment again with a straight edge and the drive pulley was 1/8 of an inch of line.  So I loosened the drive pulley and got it back in line. Checked it with my straight edge and it was perfect, like before.


  

 

As I started to tighten down on the collar shown below,

 
I noticed that instead of pulling the collar in toward the pulley, it did just the opposite. It pulled the pulley out toward the collar and out of line with the alternator. 

I suspect that this is exactly what happened last time when I tightened down the drive pulley.  This time I double and triple checked the alignment as I tightened up the drive pulley.  This time it its right.  Hopefully I won't have anymore alternator belt issues.

[Magicman]

Hopefully your nailed it.  Also your experience could help someone else.