Hi
I was belting along the motorway after a TR clubnight last week, having stayed
much later than intended, when the dynamo on my TR4 expired.
The ignition light came on - always a worring moment at 70mph as my
immediate reactions are 1) "FIRE!" 2) "Fan belt snapped Again".
I pulled over & determined that I wasnt alight, nor was the fan
belt missing. The wires to the dynamo (generator?) were ok & twiddling
with the control box made the dynamo buzz. I pushed & pulled things
for a bit, but as it was pitch dark (11:45pm) and a number of trucks
had hurtled past me I decided to run for home & hope the battery lasted
out.
About 10 miles further on, a rather nasy howling sound began, so I disconneced
the dynamo, and pressed on. Anyhow I made it home ok; I guessed the
howling meant The End so I just drove it.
The End it most certainly was - the phosphor-bronze bearing on the output
end of my Lucas dynamo had disintegrated, hence the armature was rubbing
on the field coils. However, I had been given a dynamo some time ago,
and was very surprised on rubbing the grime off to see that it was
the identical model, and it was in much better shape that the original.
So, installed & ok.
I had to swap the pulleys over - I did this by wrapping a length of
rope round the pulley to hold it to get the nut off, then using a puller;
I felt pretty smart about this. I then read in my book that a better way
of securing the pully is to clamp it down via an old fanbelt in a vice
(vise?).
The Moral of the story is: remember to oil your dynamo: there is a felt
pad to absorb & distribute it to the bronze bearing.
[ The front bearing is a pressed in ball-race and is difficult to get out ]
Regards, Adrian
asj@dsbc.icl.co.uk
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