instead of fixing it on the side of the road.


So I run the RV once a week to full operating temp and rock the transmission a little.
All system seems go so instead of screwing around with the generator that needs a tune up I figure the place I am going to in lake charles LA has electrical so I am good.

Trip is 275 miles, about 60 miles out I hear a squealing sound, a belt not having a happy time. Checking the gauges I see the alternator is not at its happy 13.2 volts.

Keep driving and listening. Night falls, lights come on voltage starts to drop. Within 35 miles of destination, lights are almost gone and gauge is falling to the bottom. Pull into a truck stop and swap the driving battery for the fully charged new one back by the generator. We pull out and make the last 30 miles barely. Hook up the electrical and get the battery charger going.

Heading home I get about 1/2 way and the squealing gets louder so I stop in a walmart parking lot to get another battery "just in case" when I turn off the motor I hear a spwang! sound. Ru Oh. Buy the battery, pull the cover from the top of the motor and see that the alternator does not have a belt as it is laying no longer circular on the ground.

Well I have a lot of tools because it is an older vehicle with me so trudge to the autoparts store one mile away with the belt and get the replacement.

the alternator adjustment bolt is a 1/2 inch socket but was a bear to unloose. I suspect it had not been untightened in 30 years. The bottom fixed bolt would not move. Ok I switch up to a 1/2 inch drive ratchet that is longer. No joy. Head back in to walmart get some wd40 and wait. Still no joy. Pull out my 1/2 inch breaker bar but no joy as the length of the breaker bar socket wont fit because the metal fan shrould is in the way. This motor has very little clearance.

Start looking in the storage bins underneath so see if I can find a way to cheat the short ratchet. Found a child's bicycle handle bars in an obscure corner that I apparently didnt clean out when I bought the RV. Took off the rubber grip, that slides nicely onto the 1/2 inch ratchet handle and I now have a 3 ft long breaker bar. Bolt is loose so move the alternator alignment to slack and start getting the belt behind the fan blades. It winds around water pump, crankshaft, alternator and A/C compressor. So as I am trying to get the belt over the A/C I notice that the pulley will not move. The A/C pulley is fucking frozen which is why the belt snapped.

So trudge a mile back to the parts store to get a belt that is for non A/C vehicles. They pull out a belt that is 2 feet longer than the other one. Stated that wouldnt work. Trying to crawl thru autozone's computers was not fun because the RV is a rexall on top of a stock GMC 454 truck chassis. So I am guessing at the size I need and the lady clerk stated that the closest one is in Baton Rouge and could not get delivered until the next day. So the clerk picks up the phone to a competitor O'Reillys and asks if they have one in stock. They do but it is 1 mile further down the road.

So I trudge down the road get to the counter and the guy shows me the belt. It is the right length but a single old style belt about 3/8 inch wide. I explained that I needed a serpentine width with 6 grooves. He called the manager over. So the manager states he is pretty sure he has a belt that would have the right width. He finds one that we agree may work. He states that he personally closes the store at 8pm. He has a lot of tools and if that belt isnt the right one he can try and help me get the right one and install it.

Trudge back 2 miles to walmart. Fucking belt I picked was 3 inches too short. Starting to get a little pissed at myself when MJ states the lady next to us has been parked there all day so I asked her if I could give her a few bucks for a ride to the parts store. Turns out her husband works at walmart but she has no place to go during the day so hangs out in the parking lot. Nice folks. So get back to the parts store, get a belt that this time should fit and the manager re-iterates his willingness to help after he closes if that one wont fit.

Get back to the RV at walmart. Belt fits, YAY! it is now 5:30 pm. Start the motor with the cover off YAY! 13.5 volts at the alternator gauge. Button everything down, start up the RV go across the road get gas. Get back on the freeway and after about 20 minutes I hear a squeal under the hood and my voltage drops to 12volts and its dark out. Make it until the battery gives out and stopped at a petro truck stop. Told MJ we can stay over night and the new battery I had bought will run us home in daylight. She was not thrilled but hey what can you do?

Next day swapped batteries and rolled it home. Will wait until next weekend and pull the alternator and rebuild it.

I have a friend in modesto CA I was telling all of this to and he was unbelieving.
A auto parts store called a competitor for you? The Manager of the other parts store offered to help you fix it? My God America still exists out there! You would have been shit out of luck in California.

All this took place in a small town in Louisiana called Walker. Nice folks there.

yeah, you are right I spaced using a rope to measure. Made the assumption that parts store would have the right dimms. Me trust a computer? I really should know better