Resolved: Busted Alternator Bracket on 2001 ZZ4

[The Mindless Philosopher]

I hope my descriptions don't confuse anyone...

While changing the alternator belt on my 2001 Boss Hoss ZZ4, I discovered the rear tab that helps secure the top end of the alternator body to the main bracket had broken off.

After removing the alternator bracket from the engine block, I discovered two things:

1. The rear tab from the alternator bracket had not originally been manufactured long enough to accommodate a typical GM alternator body. The alternator had been forced/jammed between the front and rear tabs for years. The rear tab had been bent backward as a result. Apparently, vertical alternator alignment had been maintained because of the oblong hole on the back tab. Unfortunately, the tab had cracked off from years of fatigue, but it was still snugly attached to the alternator via the long bolt with lock washer that runs through it.

2. Somewhere along the line, the bottom bolt that attaches the alternator bracket to the engine block had been sheared off at the block. Only the top bolt connected the bracket to the engine block. Strange that the second bolt was not sheared flush with the bracket but with the engine block instead. I can't figure that one. Anyway, I managed to extract the broken bolt without much trouble.

No doubt, lots of unnecessary flexation (is that a word?) had occurred down there because of the broken and missing components.

I bought a garden variety layered upper alternator bracket then cut it in half. I used the cutoff top layer to replace the broken rear tab on my Boss Hoss bracket. Once welded in place, the new tab had to be cut then re-drilled because the original hole was too low and wouldn't line up with the hole at the front of the bracket. There was plenty of material. Once finished, the body of the alternator cleared it just fine from front to rear, and also the space beneath the bracket to the top of the alternator. I had to test the bottom-side bracket to alternator body clearance because the original Boss Hoss bracket was not a layered assembly. The new tab decreased clearance by about 1/8 to 3/16 inch, but still left plenty of space for the alternator to be rotated from side to side for belt adjustment. I just had to grind down a caked up weld bead in one spot.

The (original?) alternator is off the trike now, and a Jegs #10100 chrome 1-wire alternator (100 Amp, GM 1971-86 V-belt pulley) is in its place. Two new bolts attach the bracket to the engine block.

So, that's that. The Hoss had thrown 7 or 8 belts inside of two or three months the last time I had ridden it a year go (before I put it away out of sheer frustration from endless nit-picky repairs). Now that I am close to getting it back on the road, I'm curious to see how the new belt holds up. I am using a Dayco Top Cog 15315 V-belt 11A0800. Everything appears to be perfectly aligned. Time will tell.