Anyone have one lying around?

I was checking out the squeal from loose belts and found the upper bracket was broken - the one between the top of the alternator and the front of the block.

240s are getting pretty scarce in the boneyards out here in the desert... help!

trichard is coming to my rescue with a bracket... thanks!

Now onto other diagnoses, like why the alternator stopped charging. I sense more BB support being sought in the very near future. Tick-tock...

i have a bunch of them lying around.

just stripped an entire 1990 wagon. you can have the entire alt bracket for 5 bucks plus shipping

trichard@mass.rr.com

That would be super... PayPal OK?

That's so strange. . . The same bracket broke on my '92 recently. Broke right at the weld. I blame the aftermarket bushing for allowing the alternator to twist enough that the water pump pulley was in contact, but I'm honestly not 100% sure what happened. I may have one left in the stash, Smitty. Let me check and I'll get back to you.

I just had one snap in half as well, I attributed it to the PO's mechanic who didn't have a clue! He mounted the alternator I just replaced. The same guy who put solid rotors on the front of a 91 245 that I discovered on day 1 of ownership.
Dan

Yikes. Good thing you checked the brakes, I guess. I have been lax in checking brakes lately. Your story reminds me that it's overdue.

Btw, for those of us who have had to replace broken alt mounts lately, you might want to check RockAuto to stock up on belts. They had some Napa/Gates belts on clearance for less than $1 each, and some Goodyear Gatorback belts for around $4. I am really liking the Gatorback belts - nice and quiet.

And I noticed yesterday that they have the same Uro poly accessory bushings that IPD sells, for a bit less.

Just offering some hope, just in case.

Is the metal of the bracket (the long curved arc) really *broken*, or is it just wobbly? Hard to imagine it's actually broken (it is, after all, metal), and what would break it?

If it's just wobbly, you should realize that the bracket is not actually attached firmly (i.e., bolted) to the engine block -- rather, it's attached to a piece of rubber (they're called "accessory bushings") that it merely tightly fitted to a pocket in the engine block. If that bushing fails (and they all do eventually), the bracket will wobble around.

That accessory bushing is exactly the same as the ones on the alternator mount (the "hinge"), the A/C mounts, and the P/S mounts -- they're all identical. I routinely replace mine with poly when I get a new (used) 240. They're readily available in rubber or in poly.

Hoping this is an easier solution. Best of luck.

Ken, thanks for the encouragement, but yep, this piece is broken. Over the years I've replaced the accessory bushings numerous times, especially since moving to AZ. Even the urethane bushings don't last a whole lot longer than the standard ones.