[Farmall] Super M generator belt / tensioning bracket

[John Gustafson]

I'm going to take a wild guess here since I really know nothing much about 
M's. You said that this tractor had been converted to 12 V.
That has to say that the  original 6V generatior has been swapped out for a 
12V alternator/generator.  The mounts for those are hardly standard beyond 
being on a diameter somewhere.
So it's unlikely that the adjusting hardware for the  6V generator would 
work with a  a "new" 12V device from somewhere. The used belt was probably a 
buy one that fits  when the conversion was made.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dean Vinson" <dean at vinsonfarm.net>
To: "'Antique tractor email discussion group'" 
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>; "'Farmall/IHC mailing list'" 
<farmall at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2011 8:03 PM
Subject: [Farmall] Super M generator belt / tensioning bracket


> Hmmm.  Last year I bought a 1953 Super M that had been restored several
> years ago but is still in near flawless shape.  Given the obvious 
> attention
> to detail in most areas, two things seemed odd to me:  it had an old and
> rather ragged fan belt on it, and the generator tensioning bracket was
> missing.  (Tension on the generator belt was maintained just by tightening
> the mounting bolts at the bottom of the generator, around which the
> generator can pivot if the bolts are loose, since the adjustable bracket
> that normally mounts at the top of the generator just wasn't there).
>
> Last fall I replaced the fan belt, and replaced the generator belt at the
> same time.  The old generator belt looked fine but I figured as long as I
> was going to the trouble of replacing the fan belt I'd do them both on
> general principle.  Both new belts came from OEM Tractor Parts.
>
> I finally got around to looking for a tensioning bracket and found one on
> eBay a while ago, and today went to put it on.  It's inexplicably too 
> short:
> Even in the "all the way out" adjusted position, the generator is so far 
> in
> toward the engine that the belt just hangs loosely draped over the pulley.
>
> The tensioning bracket was advertised as being from a Farmall M and came
> with the bracket that actually mounts the generator to the tractor. 
> Neither
> one has any sign of a part number on it, but the mounting bracket is 
> exactly
> the same size as the mounting bracket on my tractor so it seems likely 
> that
> they were indeed from an M.  The M and Super M parts books confirm that 
> the
> generator brackets were the same for both tractors.
>
> The generator belt is marked "04710 Made in Mexico" and "756962".  Neither
> of those is the Farmall part number, and a Google search didn't tell me
> anything about them.
>
> So the question is, how can that bracket be too short?  Either it's the
> wrong bracket (perhaps from an H?), or the belt is too long.
>
> Or, hmmm, the pulley could be smaller than normal?  The tractor's been
> converted to 12 volt... could the restorer have put a small pulley on 
> there
> to spin the generator faster as part of that conversion?  It doesn't look
> unusually small--I just went back out and measured, and the front face of
> the pulley is an even 4" in diameter.  If it's not original, it doesn't 
> seem
> like it could be so much smaller than original that it would create all 
> that
> slack in the belt.  So, back to the bracket being too short or the belt
> being too long... neither of which seems terribly likely.  Any thoughts?
>
> Dean Vinson
> Dayton, Ohio
> www.vinsonfarm.net
>
>
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