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Help! Need to find this alternator bracket!

A decent fabricator could weld you a new bracket....would be a pretty simple job since you have the old bracket as a pattern.
 
I agree with Sam any welder worth his salt could fab. that up & temper it in an hour or two, if you can't find one local ,ship the broken to me and I'll duplicate it and send it back to you.
I need something to work on wile I'm waiting more parts from Van's. Feel free PM me if you'd like.
 
Why did it break? Make sure the Alternator body fits correctly. The only thing I can imagine, short of a defect in the stock (very unlikely, look at the break and see if it is clean) is stress was put on the bracket by over tightening with gaps between the boss and the bracket. Shim it if that is the case.
You don't want to put a new bracket on and have it fail down the line too.
 
Why did it break? Make sure the Alternator body fits correctly. The only thing I can imagine, short of a defect in the stock (very unlikely, look at the break and see if it is clean) is stress was put on the bracket by over tightening with gaps between the boss and the bracket. Shim it if that is the case.
You don't want to put a new bracket on and have it fail down the line too.

Jon, it is probably wagging about - the OP should look at the plane-power website. That mount has a stiffening link back to the starter to address that wagging. That kinda looks like hot drawn angle material welded together. If so, a good 1025 bar stock steel would greatly improve the fatigue life, and with a link should never have a failure. I would suggest the OP make a new one with known materials.

Might try B&C - http://www.bandc.aero/alternator40ampswithbossmountbrackethomebuilt-1.aspx
 
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Jon, it is probably wagging about - the OP should look at the plane-power website. That mount has a stiffening link back to the starter to address that wagging. That kinda looks like hot drawn angle material welded together. If so, a good 1025 bar stock steel would greatly improve the fatigue life, and with a link should never have a failure. I would suggest the OP make a new one with known materials.

Might try B&C - http://www.bandc.aero/alternator40ampswithbossmountbrackethomebuilt-1.aspx

Yep. I presumed, since it is a standard Vans bracket, that the mounting instructions where followed which show the small piece of bar stock that ties to the starter. You hit the nail on the head if that is missing.
 
As you can see in the photo my alternator bracket has broke in half. Does anybody know where to get this style of alternator bracket? I have already exhausted my known options, Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Adam

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUvNDTAhc4YUF7ztnnAr4sqDMytOhtbKdt6Xp40/[IMG

[/IMG]]https://www.instagram.com/p/BUvNDTAhc4YUF7ztnnAr4sqDMytOhtbKdt6Xp40/[/IMG]

Jon, it is probably wagging about - the OP should look at the plane-power website. That mount has a stiffening link back to the starter to address that wagging. That kinda looks like hot drawn angle material welded together. If so, a good 1025 bar stock steel would greatly improve the fatigue life, and with a link should never have a failure. I would suggest the OP make a new one with known materials.

Might try B&C - http://www.bandc.aero/alternator40ampswithbossmountbrackethomebuilt-1.aspx

If it came from Van's it is most likely an aluminum bracket that cannot be welded. I cannot remember the name of the guy / outfit that made them in SoCAL but it may be worth getting the steel bracket from B&C then fabricate new spacers for the alternator to bracket.
 
recommend using a steel bracket for this. I had one just like this in alum but it's in the trash 3 yrs ago.
 
recommend using a steel bracket for this. I had one just like this in alum but it's in the trash 3 yrs ago.

I wouldn't disagree if you have to replace it anyway. However, if installed per plans, that bracket shouldn't ever fail. I would venture a guess, most RV's have the aluminum bracket than anything else and this is the first failure I have heard of.
 
A friend just switched to a B&C after my AV incident, and he just removed one like that. I'm sure it's available if you want it. PM me if you need it.
 
PART CHANGED

Same thing happened to mine a couple months ago. I ordered that boss mount from Vans and had a momentary aggravation when I noticed it's built differently now. The one in your picture is the old way which is like the one that broke on mine, but the new one had the alternator bolt tabs closer together. Luckily my alternator has two tabs or "ears" with a gap between them. In some auto alternators this is one long, solid piece that a single long bolt runs all the way through. Vans has moved the mounting tabs to the INSIDE of the alternator tabs where it used to have them OUTSIDE the alternator tabs. If your alternator is solid in between and uses a single long bolt the new mount won't work. I didn't see any information about this design change. I was lucky that mine was the open, 2 bolt type.
 
Same thing happened to mine a couple months ago. I ordered that boss mount from Vans and had a momentary aggravation when I noticed it's built differently now. The one in your picture is the old way which is like the one that broke on mine, but the new one had the alternator bolt tabs closer together. Luckily my alternator has two tabs or "ears" with a gap between them. In some auto alternators this is one long, solid piece that a single long bolt runs all the way through. Vans has moved the mounting tabs to the INSIDE of the alternator tabs where it used to have them OUTSIDE the alternator tabs. If your alternator is solid in between and uses a single long bolt the new mount won't work. I didn't see any information about this design change. I was lucky that mine was the open, 2 bolt type.

Thanks for sharing Chris. On the bracket that broke, did you have the bar stock tie in to the Starter installed? Is the new part steel or aluminum?
 
Got it back together!

Had the local Fab guy make a new one out of steel so it should be much stronger. He said the old one might be made out of magnesium? I would believe it because it was much lighter than the new steel version. Did a run up and everything looked good, test flying tomorrow morning.

Thanks so much for all the help guys this was my first thread and it helped a ton!!!
 
Thanks for sharing Chris. On the bracket that broke, did you have the bar stock tie in to the Starter installed? Is the new part steel or aluminum?

There wasn't a tie bar. It's an '89 build that I bought a few years ago. I'll have to look that up and see if I can add it. I wonder if the design change is to improve the strength without the tie bar?...
 
There wasn't a tie bar. It's an '89 build that I bought a few years ago. I'll have to look that up and see if I can add it. I wonder if the design change is to improve the strength without the tie bar?...
That is a very good possibility. It is also possible the tie bar was added later to prevent this exact thing from happening.
 
Had the local Fab guy make a new one out of steel so it should be much stronger. He said the old one might be made out of magnesium? I would believe it because it was much lighter than the new steel version. Did a run up and everything looked good, test flying tomorrow morning.

Thanks so much for all the help guys this was my first thread and it helped a ton!!!

Take a file and shave off a little pile of shavings and touch a match to it.... If it is magnesium, it will burn......:eek:
 
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