motogotro

Hi All,

New owner, first post. I just bought a 1977, L-48, Automatic, PS, A/C. It is the numbers matching engine. It's a project and one of the first things I'm tackling is the PS which did not have a belt on it when I bought the car. The lower alternator bracket was missing a bolt which had allowed the alternator bracket to pivot down until it was sitting on top of the PS pump fill cap. I fixed the alternator bracket and put on a new alternator belt.....that was a challenge because the alternator hits the valve cover but that's another story. Now I have the alternator in place and up off of the PS pump but the cover is still under the bracket and will not come off of the pump. Is it supposed to be that difficult or is something wrong? Is the pump wrong and not clocked correctly maybe? Is there a different alternator bracket for a car with or without PS? Am I justnot holding my mouth right and if I turn it just right it will come off?

Thanks,

Mike

HeadsU.P.

Should be over an inch clearance above the PS cap / dipstick and it should come out of there fairly easy.
Your ALT belt needs to be an inch longer so when you tighten the ALT belt the bolt is almost at the end of the upper arm slot. That way it will clear the valvecover.
You may have to Google the belt lengths and part numbers if no body chimes in here with them.

Rescue Rogers

My alternator rests on the vavvle cover to put the belt on then i go all the way out to tighten it. I bought a different setup because I couldnt keep tension with the original arm. My power steering requires me to lift the cap and tilt it out towards the radiator to get it to pop out of there. It is a bit of a tight space i use gates belts from oreillys.
7535 alternator and 7355 power steering on a 68 327

motogotro

Thanks all for the help. I think it does just come down to belt sizes. I found out that if I take the belt off and move the PS pump outbound it will come out from under the alternator bracket and I can get the cap off easily; however, with the belt I have on it now the cap will not come off. Both are brand new belts from Autozone, Duralast 15360 and 15535. I'll have to try the Gates belts and see if that's any better.

bmotojoe

I have owned my 77 A/T A/C L48 since 1982. Power steering cap has always been loosen pull up a little, tip and remove. I don't know what it is with belt manufactures over the years but the belt lengths differ from one manufacture to another. The best fitting belt I have found for the fan/alternator is the Dayco 15535, the old number was 53515. Rock Auto has a couple of these belts in stock at $3.90ea plus shipping.
Some of the belts and results I have tried over the years.

vincode

I had the same problem with my 1974, the only way to check the fluid was to remove the belt and push the pump toward the engine. I tried different belts, that didn't help. Turns out it had a newer style pump and square type reservoir installed on it sometime in the past. I installed the correct oval style reservoir and pump with a threaded shaft and can now check the fluid without moving the pump. The top pump is the square reservoir, the bottom pump has the oval reservoir and is what worked for me. Hope it helps

motogotro

That's interesting but different from my problem in that to check the fluid I have to take the belt off and move the pump away from the engine. The belt is barely long enough to get on with the pump in the loose position and that tucks the cap right up under the alternator. I have to take the belt off and move the pump away from the engine to get the cap off. I think a longer belt will solve my problem but it's curious that it ends up this way with the supposedly correct belt on it from Duralast.

motogotro

I just thought I would share my final solution to this problem. After 3 trips to Autozone if ended up with a Duralast 15545 on the alternator. This belt is 1" longer than the 15535 that Duralast recommended but with this one I can put the belt on easily whereas I had to loosen the lower bracket to get the 15535 on. With the belt tightened it is about 3/4 of the way out on the adjustment bracket which seems to be a good solution for now. On the power steering I ended up with a Duralast 15365, just a half inch longer than the recommended belt but it's enough to get the power steering cap out from under the lower alternator bracket and it allows the top to be removed easily. With the pump out this far, the pully is pretty close to the frame rail so I don't know if there may be clearance issues under load, only time will tell.

Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions with this problem, you guys are great!

Mike