A bus owners nightmare

[windtrader]

I guess I'll need to go look again. I did once before and saw no belts. The generator looked like it was bolted up on the backside. The OEM MC8 manual shows parts for both gear and belt drives, so it seems they were equipped with both.

[buswarrior]

The switch between belt drive and gear drive alternators took place later during the MC8 run.

Worrying about the alternator specifically, without worrying in equal parts about every other way the engine can fail catastrophically is a waste of time.

20 years on the boards and this alternator grenade only starts being talked about recently?

Poop happens, just drive it.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[richard5933]

Replacing alternators on a revenue bus is considered a maintenance item. If you have a high-mileage bus and are worried change it out.

[chessie4905]

I wonder how many are installed later in life without going through the alignment process.

[luvrbus]

The 50D has a maintaince program in the Delco manual follow it.this engine wasn't equipped with the right cam shaft for driving the 50D so you could probably say this one was on American Fleet,a bus engine is the only DD that used the cam driven 50D.Military 8v92's use a smaller alternator driven off the blower with a coupling not much happens when they go bad,DD is not the only engine manufacture that used the gear they were just slow learning CAT and Cummins tried it for a few years too with not good results belt drives are your friend   

[windtrader]

Worrying about the alternator specifically, without worrying in equal parts about every other way the engine can fail catastrophically is a waste of time.

20 years on the boards and this alternator grenade only starts being talked about recently?

Poop happens, just drive it.

Now, THIS is the kind of message that brings calm and relief.  Busnuts could lose their minds and have chronic insomnia if too many of these non-critical concerns keep floating around. I have enough trouble staying on schedule of regular maintenance.

[Dave5Cs]

Yep but that helps with your OCD Don!   

[Prevost45]

Cams are no different on a gear driven setup. It’s a gear driven accessory , driven from the rear gear case. The gears also drive the cams.any type of accessory can be driven from the gear case. The Delco 50DN can be fatal when the drive within itself fails dropping bearing pieces and its drive gears drop into the detroit accessory / cam drives sometimes destroying the accessory drive and driven cams.

[luvrbus]

Cams are no different on a gear driven setup. It’s a gear driven accessory , driven from the rear gear case. The gears also drive the cams.any type of accessory can be driven from the gear case. The Delco 50DN can be fatal when the drive within itself fails dropping bearing pieces and its drive gears drop into the detroit accessory / cam drives sometimes destroying the accessory drive and driven cams.
[/quote

They have a different parts numbers than the US or CA cams

[Scott & Heather]

When I just replaced the engine in my bus this past April, this is exactly why I ditched the 50DN and put a belt driven alternator on the rear accessory pulley.

[windtrader]

Are there belt driven alternator that produce similar current? A 50DN puts out 275 amps. Would a belt drive equivalent fit? Scott, what's the output of the alternator in the image? 

[chessie4905]

that model is also available for belt drive and they also have a 450 amp version. Check the Delco Remy website. Google Delco 50dn.

[luvrbus]

If you need 275 amps use 2-140 amp alternators

[richard5933]

There are lots of ways to get the necessary amp output using belt-driven alternators. The problem is finding a place and way to mount them. Not every engine/bus is suited for this as well as others.

[luvrbus]

I am removing the 50D from Brads 4107 and going to belt driven his is a turbo 8v71 so I need to reroute his turbo pipping