That wasn't supposed to break

[California]

I finally got around to pulling the alternator on the YM186D. It clattered. The seller had told me it 'always sounded like that' and he never got around to replacing the alternator bearings, which he thought caused the racket.

Wow. The good ol ol boy American farmer who owned this, or maybe the guy with a machine shop I bought it from, was as much a hack as those guys who 'rebuild' tractors in VN.

First thing I discovered was the alternator belt was waaay loose. I removed its adjuster bolt to move the alternator beyond the end of the adjustment strap - and the alternator fell off. WTH?

1) the wrong belt is on it, so long that the alternator goes beyond the end of the adjustment strap and is still loose. And 2) the stud into the engine's front cover, that the alternator is supposed to pivot on, is still in place but broken 1/8 inch below flush in the aluminum front cover. No wonder the alternator clattered.

Ok ... so far a wrong belt and a broken stud. I need to pull the battery and radiator to get a straight shot at removing the broken stud.
First, open the coolant drain, the little fitting on the chassis with the tiny hoses. But with a good size wrench on its drain plug and a bigger one stabilizing the fitting - I can't budge the plug. It took a breaker bar. There was no o-ring under the drain plug, just huge torque applied to get a metal to metal seal. Who the heck worked on this thing last?

After the battery and radiator were removed I lifted the alternator out. WTH again! Why does the alternator have a big weld across it??? How do you crack an alternator???? And ... nobody filed down the weld to let the alternator align flat against the front cover! ( I filed it down myself before I took the picture below, and some more later). I wonder if the weld could have stressed and broken the stud.

I went to a first-class industrial supply house for an ez-out and the correct left handed drill, to remove the stud fragment that was still in the engine's aluminum front over. This isn't a place to try Harbor Freight's equivalents!

The left-hand drill bit didn't spin the stud out but at least it didn't tighten it. I'm glad I got a top-quality bit. That stud was hard steel. I hammered in the ez-out and turned it with a tap handle so there was no sideways pull. Finally the stud fragment unscrewed out.

This tractor must have been owned by an idiot. Who would put on a belt so long it couldn't be tightened - then snap the stud securing the alternator. And break the alternator itself?? And not file flat the repair weld on the alternator???

Anyhow, I bought the correct belt (Gates lists this tractor; 33 inch belt), a replacement stud, fresh coolant, and put an o-ring on the drain plug. Everything went back together like Yanmar intended.

I have a question for today's mechanics: I used red (permanent) Lock-Tite to set the new stud in the aluminum front cover. Was that a good idea?


Here's a picture with the new stud in place.

 

[Baby Grand]

That looks like a mighty cold "weld" bead. I'd keep my eye on it for a while after you get the belt tightened up and load the stud. With any luck that's the only thing the chowderhead "fixed".

 

[Neat 1500]

it makes you wonder at times what the knucklehead was thinking when he was repairing it(if thats what its called!) the tag on the alternator probably broke off because it was only held on by that end originally? i have had a real good go over my 1500 and it has had a good remanufacture if thats what they call it.nothing bodged up,no yanmarsteining that i could find.then you have my YM14 that has been australia since new and it looks and sounds like some of the bad vn rebuilds you get but it was messed up by the previous owners.

 

[mrmikey]

Good fix.
As for the red Loctite, it's not going to hurt, until you have to remove it then you're going to need heat. Being a stud you probably won't have to remove it anyway. Myself, I would have use blue, it's what they call 'service removable', just a good sized wrench and no heat required....Mike

 

[YannyMan]

Good old human "ingenuity"... The funniest part is, it takes longer to hack something than to fix it right most times...

 

[Travelover]

California, you are perfectionist. You can't expect everyone to work to your standards.

 

[normde2001]

. . . . . . and it took you HOW long to discover these problems?

 

[California]

That looks like a mighty cold "weld" bead.

The back side also has a high wide bead. It looked to be welded as solid as can be done with cast aluminum.
I assumed I might need to buy an alternator. If the weld ever cracks, I'll buy one.

California, you are perfectionist. You can't expect everyone to work to your standards.

I don't expect everyone shares my standards. It met new-tractor spec on a dynamometer and was cheap. ($2500 including new tires, battery, seat). It sure isn't pretty, every piece of sheet metal has dings. I estimated the alternator would be a $100 repair when I bought it. The new stud cost $2.60.

Ok, so I don't have any money invested in 'pretty'.

. . . . . . and it took you HOW long to discover these problems?

Couple of years. ( brought it home August 2009). This and a screechy tach were obvious when I bought it. I still haven't gotten around to replacing the tach because it isn't hurting anything and it goes quiet after a minute. Someday when I have lots of time I'll pull the dashboard (big nuisance) to replace the tach. When I'm rained in like today I putter around with minor stuff, like this 2009 project replacing dribbly injector return lines.

I would rather spend the day out there working the tractor - not working on it. (Photo 2010).

I'm glad to hear that red LockTite on the stud was ok. I wondered about that after I did it. I use blue LockTite (removable) everywhere on these tractors so I assumed I needed red on the 'permanent' end of the stud. If a propane torch is sufficient to break it loose then this is ok.

 

[Grayson Klassen]

For what it is worth I have seen damage like that on an alternator housing and it occurred when a large branch wedged between the pulley and belt and twisted the whole assembly when it jammed and broke the casing.

As for home repairs here is my take.

Those of us who do not make our livings farming or ranching but have proprrty that requires a certain amount of work and improvements have trouble justifying new equipment for the task since for the most part our properties are not money makers.

My property came with a ford 3000 that had seen some tough love. Home made 3 point arms when new replacements were 49 dollars. Home made linkages and stuff like that. We cannot be blamed for what others do, but we can at least expose it for what it is. "When Farm Tractor Repairs Go Bad!"