powermaster Alternator

[motordr]

I see that Powergen says to NOT use a fan mounted to their alternator, yet Speedway sells an Offenhauser pulley to do so. I am thinking of going this route. Looking for your real world experience with this. I'm thinking that maybe their alternator bearing is not designed to take the thrust load of the fan. Ted

[WABOOM]

I bet it has to do with the fan not being balanced, and I'm sure you're right it has everything to do with the bearing not being able to handle it.

[40cpe]

I would venture to say the bearing isn't up to it. Years ago I bought a Powermaster alternator from their display at the Knoxville show. Went home and put it on my car and shortly it began to make a noise. The front bearing was bad so I replaced it. In a short time it was making noise again. I put my spare alternator on and took their's back to Knoxville to them the next year and told them I had already replaced the bearing. They took it to repair it and sent it back to me. In a short time it was making noise again so I gave up and trashed it. I would advise against putting a fan on a Powermaster alternator.

[rotorwrench]

I've heard similar stuff on the HAMB. I'm not sure how well their alternators cool during operation aside from the poor bearing design. Some alternators are better than others. The Powrmasters are made more for the way they look instead of being a balanced design that will also have good reliability. The old Fords that had a fan mounted generator had a damn good bearing set up since they knew it was going to stress that part. I would be surprised if any of those alternator manufacturers would ever go to that extent.

Some auto electric folks have modified the old cases to work as an alternator but I don't know how well they will cool either. Alternators can get pretty hot in service and need all the cooling help they can get. In aviation, they actually run ducts from the engine cooling baffles to the alternator for better cooling.

[mike in tucson]

Rats! Now you tell me. Have a powergen with fan on it for almost 3 years. Roadster will go 90++mph....and the fan stays on.

[rotorwrench]

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If the fan blade assembly is in good track & balance, it will definitely last longer. The early generators had two bearings in the front. Somewhere in 1936 they went to single double row bearing. That tells you a lot about how Ford handled it back then. Most alternators just have a single row ball bearing but they don't generally have a large fan on there either. They just have the dinky little cooling fan that they all come with.

[motordr]

I have a plastic fan from a Mazda and machined a hub out of aluminum, it runs pretty smoothly. Ted

[32phil]

I have a fan mounted on a powermaster on my roadster. Have about 3500 miles on it now....so far so good....just put 350+ miles on it last week @ 65mph. We don't do a lot of hiway driving....just puttering around to local cruises / ice cream nites etc...We actually turned the pulley down some so it would turn faster at idle.

[Automotive Stud]

I can't vouch for the bearing or the fan, but I can tell you I bought a powermaster for my '47 about ten years ago. Maybe 4 years ago it stopped charging. Powermaster advertises a one year warranty, but I called them anyway. They just had me send it back and within a week they sent me the same one repaired, it had a stuck brush, no charge. I was very happy with the customer service.