Off Brand Alternator Belt
I stopped in Casa Blanca, NM yesterday evening to avoid a rain storm that was headed our way. It only took about an hour for everything to pass through and it was time to get on the road to where we would camp for the night; just north of Grants.
But as I pulled out I noticed something was wrong with the bike. The battery light was on indicating the bike wasn't getting a charge from the alternator. I pulled off at the next exit to take a look and I discovered the alternator belt had failed. When it blew out it came right through the front guard and there was a rat's nest right where the BMW emblem used to be.
It was Saturday and getting late. I called any auto parts store in the area that was listed as open on Google trying to find a replacement belt. No one in the area carried one. It was beginning to look like I was going to be stuck in New Mexico until Tuesday when BMW opened in Albuquerque.
I spent the rest of the evening cleaning the shredded pieces of the old belt from the alternator and behind the drive pulley, then I put everything back together and looked around the area for a place to set up camp. The battery still had enough charge for me to crank the bike and pull around to the other side of the truck stop to camp. But would it start again the next morning?
Once I got the tent set up I researched some of the numbers from the broken fragments of belt I was able to pick out of the front of the motor. I was able to determine the belt had four grooves and a 611mm circumference.
The next morning I got everything pack up on the bike and crossed my fingers that he'd start so I could get to Grants and try to find a belt that might fit at O'Reilly's. It cranked, but I could tell the battery was getting very weak. Bravo jumped up on the tank and we raced to Grants about 20 miles up the road.
At O'Reilly I explained to the guy behind the counter what I needed. A belt with four grooves and a 611mm circumference; roughly 24 inches. He did a little digging and he found one that might work.
I pulled the cover off and checked to see if the belt was even close before I actually bought it. Everything looked very promising.
After I bought the belt I put Dolph Lundgren on his center stand and went to work trying to figure out the best way to tackle the job. I originally tried to stretch the belt over both pulleys but it just wasn't working. If I had someone else to crank the engine I might have been able to pop it on that way, but I assumed the guy at O'Reilly would opt out and there weren't a lot of people visiting the auto parts store that early in the day.
I decided I'd have to loosen the nuts that hold the alternator in position and fix it the proper way. Everything worked out great. All I needed for the job was a 13mm wrench and a 6mm allen key to adjust the tension on the belt from the back side of the nut on the left side of the bike. I wasn't able to torque anything to spec but I got some good tension on the belt and it's been working great all day.
I had to get a jump start from the O'Reilly truck, but the alternator was definitely charging the battery!
So if you're ever in a pinch and can't get the exact part you need to get back on the road, don't forget to check out the alternatives. I could have been sitting for three days, but instead I'll arrive in Los Angeles tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm thinking about driving straight through the night because the temperatures out here in the desert are in the 90's all night.
You can help Bravo and me stay on the road with a small pledge on Patreon and you can subscribe to our YouTube channel here. You can also support our trip by purchasing products from Amazon through the links in this blog.
But as I pulled out I noticed something was wrong with the bike. The battery light was on indicating the bike wasn't getting a charge from the alternator. I pulled off at the next exit to take a look and I discovered the alternator belt had failed. When it blew out it came right through the front guard and there was a rat's nest right where the BMW emblem used to be.
It was Saturday and getting late. I called any auto parts store in the area that was listed as open on Google trying to find a replacement belt. No one in the area carried one. It was beginning to look like I was going to be stuck in New Mexico until Tuesday when BMW opened in Albuquerque.
I spent the rest of the evening cleaning the shredded pieces of the old belt from the alternator and behind the drive pulley, then I put everything back together and looked around the area for a place to set up camp. The battery still had enough charge for me to crank the bike and pull around to the other side of the truck stop to camp. But would it start again the next morning?
Once I got the tent set up I researched some of the numbers from the broken fragments of belt I was able to pick out of the front of the motor. I was able to determine the belt had four grooves and a 611mm circumference.
The next morning I got everything pack up on the bike and crossed my fingers that he'd start so I could get to Grants and try to find a belt that might fit at O'Reilly's. It cranked, but I could tell the battery was getting very weak. Bravo jumped up on the tank and we raced to Grants about 20 miles up the road.
At O'Reilly I explained to the guy behind the counter what I needed. A belt with four grooves and a 611mm circumference; roughly 24 inches. He did a little digging and he found one that might work.
I pulled the cover off and checked to see if the belt was even close before I actually bought it. Everything looked very promising.
After I bought the belt I put Dolph Lundgren on his center stand and went to work trying to figure out the best way to tackle the job. I originally tried to stretch the belt over both pulleys but it just wasn't working. If I had someone else to crank the engine I might have been able to pop it on that way, but I assumed the guy at O'Reilly would opt out and there weren't a lot of people visiting the auto parts store that early in the day.
I decided I'd have to loosen the nuts that hold the alternator in position and fix it the proper way. Everything worked out great. All I needed for the job was a 13mm wrench and a 6mm allen key to adjust the tension on the belt from the back side of the nut on the left side of the bike. I wasn't able to torque anything to spec but I got some good tension on the belt and it's been working great all day.
I had to get a jump start from the O'Reilly truck, but the alternator was definitely charging the battery!
So if you're ever in a pinch and can't get the exact part you need to get back on the road, don't forget to check out the alternatives. I could have been sitting for three days, but instead I'll arrive in Los Angeles tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm thinking about driving straight through the night because the temperatures out here in the desert are in the 90's all night.
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You can help Bravo and me stay on the road with a small pledge on Patreon and you can subscribe to our YouTube channel here. You can also support our trip by purchasing products from Amazon through the links in this blog.
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