I have been rebuilding my generator and found the pulley Is cracked and wonder If some one has a good one. Email me at donnys05@aol.com If you have one to sell. Thanks
Although I am not a welder, here's an interesting post that discusses welding cast iron. Maybe your pulley can be welded and used for now until you find a replacement.
Jim Farris emailed me today and said pulley part number 8378779 fits Chevrolet 1932 to 1935. It Is In the 1941 parts book. This may give me a lot more chance of finding the correct pulley. Maybe someone with a 1933,1934,1935 Chevy may have a extra generator laying around that I could get a pulley from them. Thanks. Don
Skip, Farris sent me the number and you are right the number Is 837879. If I do not find a 32 pulley and the replacement one will work and line up correctly, That would be great. How many do you have laying around for 1932, ????????????? Don
As I wrote to Don in a separate email, the earlier pulley can be made to work. If so it will be necessary to move the generator about 1/4" forward. The dimensions for part number 836611 is 3 5/16" diameter, 7/8" wide, 1 5/16 thick. The article giving dimensions for generator pulleys without a fan was published in the February 2005 Generator and Distributor.
Thanks Chipper. Bill Barker just called me and said he went back up stairs In his garage and found two 1932 generators hidden among a pile of parts. What a find, So hopefully when I go back to his place, We will take the pulleys off and make sure they are correct and not replacement pulleys. To me It Is like finding a needle In a haystack. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.
Discussions about hard-to-find parts like this keep me thinking about the potential for 3D printing technology. The hardware and software costs keep coming down as well as the ease of operation improves.
On one of the umpteen zillion "redo your car" shows I saw them make 2 plastic brackets for a sunroof operating mechanism. They charged $125 which I thought was very reasonable.
A year ago I toured the 3D manufacturing lab at the University of Louisville. It was impressive. I have a sample hinge for an cabinet door in an airplane. The metal part is lighter and stronger than any cast or stamped part could ever be.
I know that some of the high schools in our area have 3D printers that are used in their science curriculums. If I ever need a part that they could possible make I plan to reach out to them.
I know 3d plastic looks good but I havent had a chance to test the strength of the product. I have seen a "printer" large enough to print a house in concrete but I doubt that there is a version that will print metal. Tony
If someone has a good pulley, send it to Greg Coleman and have him cast a new one. Then just have it machined. You will have a new made, virtually exact, reproduction. I have had Greg cast me a few things and I’ve then done my own machining on them. He cast me a couple free wheeling levers for my Olds and new Cabriolet roof T bolt escutcheon plates too. Not expensive at all and all came out very nice. I made my own patterns for him as I didn’t have originals Togo by. My patterns were based off of pictures, drawings, and exact measurements taken from originals. The parts I had cast are not available anywhere so making them up was the wise choice. I had duplicates made of the chrome escutcheons that I have for sale.
3D printers today will fuse a fine metal powder into a fairly strong part. The aircraft cabinet door hinge I have is a metal part. It is quite an amazing process.
On the other hand, I have used injection molded plastic pulleys in some fairly high duty cycles. The load on a '32 generator is pretty low. 10 amps at 7 volts is about 0.1 horsepower. Even if you double it for inefficiency that is not much load.
A listing was previously posted on Chat with pulley numbers and applications for 26-35. I think Chipper posted it and it was from a G&D article that he submitted. Might be good to take a survey to see how many might be interested in a new cast pulley.
Rusty. I think what you are talking about making a mold of the pulley and fabricating It would be the way to go. Strength wise I think there would be no problem for the pulley. I also think a lot of other parts for all Chevrolets may be the way to go In producing parts that nobody can find.
Greg Coleman could cast one I’m pretty sure but one would have to be sent to him to verify. He cast two 8” long freewheeling levers out of cast iron for me and charged me $70 for both. I think that was a very good price. He also cast up and had chromed a few pairs of Cabriolet Tbolt escutcheons for me and the cost ea was less than getting an original rechromed if I could have found one. I have a pair now that I would sell for $60. Try getting one chromed for that price. I would think if Greg could do it the price might be around the $50-$60 mark. With 1-11/2 hours machining to bore and true the pulley surfaces, a new pulley would be around $175-$200. Is that a lot? It depends on how bad it’s needed or wanted. If you owned a 32’ Olds like me, you would think that was a give away.????
If someone has a pulley and is interested in having some cast up, PM me. I can send it out to Greg (I have an account and do a fair amount with him) and I can machine the rough pulleys when they come from casting for less than the average machine shop.
I’ll try posting some pictures of Greg’s casting work but I need my laptop for that and I’m using my iPad right now.
Here are some pictures of the items I've have made for 32' Olds. Some are fully machined by me, some parts have been cast from my patterns by Greg Coleman and machined by me. Anything needing to be polished up is done by my neighbor. The freewheeling levers are shown after polishing and machining next to the ash pattern I made. The escutcheons and T bolts are made by Greg and chromed by his plater. They were by Greg using my patterns. I offer all these parts to any Olds owner if they want them. Some of the parts like the T bolts and escutcheons fit Olds, Buick, Pontiac, and Chevy. The small pins to retain the rumble seat cushion straps also are common among them all. The springs are for Olds, throttle and starter pedal linkage, gas pedal stand off studs, and the body bolt washers. I also make molds for casting specific rubber parts that are not made by Steele or Metro. One mold and black rubber part shown is a pad that goes between the bumper and the bumper iron at the center of the bumper. The small angled pad with two tapered screw holes is a Olds specific bumper that is mounted at the bottom of the center folding roof frame on the convertible roadster models that supports the bows so they don't rattle. (my research has shown that Chevy, Pontiac, and Buick did not use them) I make other items not shown like new door dovetail receptacles and firewall grommets (along with another 32' olds owner who actually does all the casting of the rubber parts with molds I've made and molds he had a machine shop make up).
What is really funny is I sell this stuff for basically what I have into it and the Olds stuff is impossible to find. Most 32' olds owners seem to less interested in correct parts and spending any money than owners of any other marque.
Don, I believe I have a 611, and a 879 pulley but I am a day or two from the shop to be able to confirm. I had to buy generators to get them but would be willing to let one go. Send me a pm with an email or text number and I will send a photo or two when I get back.
Most 32' olds owners seem to less interested in correct parts and spending any money than owners of any other marque.
Ted......I have to disagree. Over the years I have found many vintage Chevrolet owners that are in the same scenario that you have mentioned above as well.
Most 32' olds owners seem to less interested in correct parts and spending any money than owners of any other marque.
Ted......I have to disagree. Over the years I have found many vintage Chevrolet owners that are in the same scenario that you have mentioned above as well.
I guess it’s just the nature of people. At least with a lot of the more produced cars they have the option to purchase readily available aftermarket parts. I’m of the type if the part is almost impossible to get and someone has gone to the effort to make the part and it’s priced right, I’m going to buy it rather than use a make shift replacement. I’m amazed at how many cars have super paint jobs, great interior work, then Phillips head screws and vinyl wiring everywhere. The cost to get it right is not that much more but the effort to do the research is and I guess that might be a big part of it.
Right now I’m at a loss for his name but he’s a member of the VCCA and he makes his own aftermarket parts for Cabriolets. I purchased a fair amount of parts from him simply because they are correct and the cost of restoring my deteriorated parts would have been more. I was very happy he has those parts made. It’s a no brainer if you want a correct car.
