Others who know better will chime in, but to me, no fastener should rotate
against another surface without a washer to take the wear. There are
exceptions, such as rod bolts and other similar applications, but usually to
me it is just wrong. If there's not one I put one. It can be a flat washer,
but there needs to be a washer.

Why are they called washers, anyway? That doesn't wash.

Jim

On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 9:09 AM, Rocket J Squirrel <
camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:

> Glad I didn't have to go through any of these contortions to pull the
> alternator. Up until now, there has been zero indication that the PO ever
> modified anything, but here the bolt here removes rearward where there is
> plenty of room to extract it. I don't see any reason why they aren't all
> oriented that way.
>
> Hardware question: Neither the nut or the bolt head have a washer between
> them and the bracket. Seems to me that since a loosened alternator bracket
> can cause quite a hub-bub that there should be a lockwasher of some sort,
> split ring or star-type, somewhere?
>
> Or maybe it's unnecessary if the bolt is torqued to spec.
>
> --
> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
> Bend, Ore.
> 1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
> 1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company in San
> Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.
>
> Sent from my kitchen.
>
> On 08/24/2011 06:45 AM, Jim Felder wrote:
>
>> Another way is to pull the airbox and get at the bolt head from behind
>> with
>> a long extension and wrench. Feel the long extension and 13mm socket over
>> the top of the engine from behind. You'll be able to either feel the nut
>> with your hands or with the socket as you sweep back and forth against the
>> bracket with the extension. Anyway, when the socket is on the bolt, snap
>> in
>> the ratchet, place a box wrench over the nut, and have it it. All you have
>> to do to get it back together is manage to get the nut and washer over the
>> bracket, then proceed as before with the ratchet in the other direction.
>>
>> A long taped drift always helps get the holes aligned in the alternator
>> and
>> bracket.
>>
>> This is one of the clumsier operation on a waterboxer, bordering on the
>> insanity that is usually associated with more modern motors.
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 11:11 AM, Jim Arnott<jrasite@eoni.com>  wrote:
>>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Rocket J Squirrel
>>> I was concerned that if I removed
>>> the nut so I could really get at the back of the alternator, my fingers
>>> would not be able to get the nut back on in that cramped area. It's
>>> pretty tight in there. Needlenose pliers?
>>>
>>> 13 mm box end wrench with a fold of electrical tape on one flat of the
>>> nut
>>> to hold it into the wrench. Magnet on a stick to retrieve it when it
>>> falls
>>> out. The second time you'll get it.
>>>
>>> Jim
>>>
>>>