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Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:12 pm

1973 Super Beetle

Started to notice an odd sound, took a bit to narrow down but found the pulley is grinding away material on the alternator.

To my understanding there is not a spacer/shim of any kind directly between the pulley and the alternator which begs the question: Is this just an incorrect pulley for the setup? If so, what style is the correct pulley? This car is a mismatch of parts that I am in the process of getting back to the original setup as possible.

Blue lines to point out the grinding:

Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:23 pm

Maybe you can straighten it out and trim off the excess so it's not blocking the airflow.
Or get an alternator pulley, which most have a fan blade thing around the rim. It doesn't really need fan blades but it does need to not block the airflow coming out.

In the old days most of the time these things had pulleys on them already, I guess we would leave it to the rebuilder guy to figure out how to get the pulley off.
Half the time those pulleys are so stuck you can't get them off without bending them up. Disposable item....... until there isn't any new ones.
Which, I don't know. hopefully there are new ones.

Wed Dec 21, 2022 9:55 am

I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything parts. Seems to be a reoccurring issue on this car.

Working on getting a fan style pulley, thanks!

Wed Dec 21, 2022 10:08 am

maybe try to shim the pully out a little bit?
https://www.cbperformance.com/product-p/1915.htm

Wed Dec 21, 2022 10:30 am

Vintage_VW wrote: 1973 Super Beetle

Started to notice an odd sound, took a bit to narrow down but found the pulley is grinding away material on the alternator.

Started to notice? Had it been quiet in the past? Was it loose when you checked it?

Wed Dec 21, 2022 1:09 pm

I think you need spacer 801 in front of the bearing

Wed Dec 21, 2022 3:57 pm

In terms of noise, a rather loud exhaust setup was on the car, got an original style muffler back on it and have the OEM style baffled tips to still get on it.

I can take a better look to see if it's possible that spacer is missing, but it appears to be right against a bearing in the diagram so not sure if it really applies.

I have a pulley spacer and a new belt, looking at replacement pulleys. Thanks for you help everyone! Will close thread soon.

Wed Dec 21, 2022 4:14 pm

Careful with "new" pulleys, many self destruct in a few months since most are made of Chinesium.

Your pulley doesn't look bad, but that brown dust on the shaft says it's been moving around on there, a new woodruff key can't hurt, the movement has likely worn the pulley and spacer enough for it to make contact. A fresh spacer may help, but it might still require a washer on the shaft between the spacer and the pulley to space it out away from the alternator a little more.

Another possible cause of movement is not using enough shims between the pulley halves, turn the engine over a few strokes with the nut as you tighten so it can climb the pulley completely. The goal is to be able to torque up the nut and still have a slight bit of slack in the belt, it should just barely turn the engine using the alternator nut with the odd little slip moment after the nut is fully tightened.

Wed Dec 21, 2022 4:29 pm

Every aircooled VW generator and alternator need a spacer at each end of the shafts, to give the pulley and
fan hub something to sit against (instead of the gen/alt body!). The spacers at the fan end of an alt, and on
both ends of a generator have an ID of 15 mm. The rear (pulley) spacer on an alternator is 17 mm ID, and
actually hangs a little past the transition of the shaft from 15 mm to 17 mm diameter. It should protrude about
3/32" past the body. If the pulley is rubbing on the alt body like yours, then either 1) spacer is wrong, not wide enuff, 2) pulley is wrong or 3) pulley is warped.

Wed Dec 21, 2022 5:06 pm

The OPs first pic appears to show the spacer.
The second pic appears to show that only the one side or arc of the pulley is rubbing. Grind a bit of clearance there and you should be good.