Click on image for the lowdown. 
====
| | | Forums66 Topics128,160 Posts1,057,054 Members48,463 | | Most Online14,466
Apr 26th, 2026 | | AD Chevy Trucks  Over 6,000 pictures Brad Allen has an awesome collection of Chevrolet factory pictures that he has set up from film strips. Check them out!
Lots of work on Brad's part ... pure enjoyment (and references) for you!
| | THANKS!
For helping keep this great
old truck web site
on the Internet for over 30 years! and not clogged down
with Ads!  Again, thanks!
| | | | Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 27 Apprentice | | Apprentice Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 27 | I am having difficulty keeping the belt tight on the generator. I have a regular 1/2 inch bolt about an 1 and 1/4 inches long that goes throught the arm attached at the water pump and screws into the hole on the generator. I have tigheted it down as hard as I can. Also the mounting bolts to the generator are as tight as I can get but it keeps slipping and the truck overheats.
Is there a special bolt that goes through the arm and into the generator? Should there be a washer or something between the two?
Thanks
| | | | | Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,878 . | | . Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,878 | Be sure your belt pulleys are in good shape, if they are worn into some shape other than a clean "V", then the belt is likely to slip.
At one time I had a bad generator pulley on my truck, worked fine other then the belt slipping....
Grigg | | | | | Joined: Oct 2001 Posts: 3,458 Extreme Gabster | | Extreme Gabster Joined: Oct 2001 Posts: 3,458 | Also make sure your pulleys aren't out of round- if they keep tightening and loosening the belt the bolt will slip and then the bearings will fry. You shouldn't need very much tension.
Paint & Body Shop moderator
A lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic. | | | | | Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 4,983 Master Gabster | | Master Gabster Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 4,983 | Try using some "Locktite".
~Jim
| | | | | Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,878 . | | . Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,878 | I think there is more going on than just the belt tensioner arm or bolt loosening and slipping.
I have never had a problem keeping that tight on any of my engines/vehicles, and I never over tighten them, they stay put with normal efforts.
An example of how easy it is if the rest of the system is in decent shape:
Friend of mine had a model A ford car, I commented that his fan belt was loose, when I poked it the whole generator moved, not tight at all... He said , "It's OK, the weight of the generator keeps the belt tight enough" And it did, it was summer time and he drove the car all over the place, including over the mountain between my place and his, and even going slow off road on the 4 wheeler trails. It never overheated and the battery stayed charged.
I'm not saying you should leave the generator/belt slack, only that this is a simple thing, and that part of the system is likely not the real problem. Something else must be going on to complicate and confuse things.
Grigg | | |
|
|
