please help! alternator mounting bracket broken, bolt from Hell, W123, now what? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

#1 08-23-2002, 12:37 PM

you gotta help me out!
while trying to remove the alternator from a 300TD, the lower mounting bolt would not come loose, like it was a reverse-threaded bolt that had been cross-threaded in there with an impact gun and a nice helping of JB Weld on the threads to boot. well, after about 40 hours of labor and tricks (torches, PB Blaster, 8 ft breaker bars, 8 broken balls, etc) now the whole bracket cracked.

a commando assault team went to the junqueyard, found a '79 TD and tried to remove a spare mounting bracket off the block. what's with these Mercs? ummm, can anyone here say "servicable"? no? you can't take these cars apart. just to get at that one last bolt, remove: radiator, crank pulleys (with Allen keys???!!!, who brought those? no-one? oh well...) so F--K it, sorry for the rant, but ...

NOW WHAT? trash the whole car, because of one bolt. how silly. or carry spare batteries all over creation, charge 'em every night. great. so, how about removing the A/C compressor, and mounting an alternator there? any comments? i don't know what else to do, SOB, SNIFF, MPPH, BLuoughyeee

oh yeah, thanks, guys, for any help, in advance, and etc.
wordy enough?
sorry.
yours truly,
Vytas

G-Benz · #2 08-23-2002, 01:30 PM

....

Wow! Sorry about the bolt issue...took a bit of coaxing to get that 19mm bolt off my W124 when I was in the process of doing the same repair...but it did come out with only scraped knuckles for casualties...

...but I have lowered strut towers for my VW Super Beetle that I can NEVER install because the original lower strut mounts that attach to the spindles would not free themselves!!! Blow torch, impact wrench, breaker bars, exorcism, whatever...nothing worked!

So I eventually have to shell out $$$ to get a new set of spindles or search the boneyard for a matched set! Needless to say, I haven't had time for the VW lately, so right now, it's just a large driveway ornament!

#3 08-23-2002, 01:57 PM

ouch! Is this something that can be welded back on? Just thought I'd throw a bone out.

#4 08-23-2002, 02:51 PM

From my viewpoint you have 3 options:
1) Finish taking out the bracket on your own and take it to a welding shop. If it is cast alumium they can Heli-arc weld it - it can be fixed.
2) have a garage take the bracket out for you and you then take it to the welding shop for repair.
3) get some good quality allen head sockets, a small screwdriver, a hammer and a 24" 1/2" breaker bar. Go back to the bones yard and clean the head of the bolt out with the small screwdriver, then hit the socket into head so it is well seated with hammer and apply the breaker bar. Then put the new bracket into your car.
Sometimes the stupidest thing on a car can take hours - ask me - I know!!!!

#5 08-23-2002, 07:20 PM

Not sure this will help but.

I am not sure what type of bolt it is that is stuck. anyhow, at this point would it make sense to hook up to the bolt with big breaker bar and snap bolt head off.

Try extracting with extractor (I can never seem to get those things to work) or drill out, and tap.

I've had to do this on a couple of occassions. Last time on my tractor. Instead of snapping bolt off I cut off with my dremel tool. As soon as I had cut the head of the bolt off I was able to spin the stud of the bolt out with my finger (which I sliced wide open). Was able to just use new bolt, no problem. The head of the old bolt had frozen to the surface it tightened against.

I tend to resort to cutting when all else fails.

Good luck,
Joel

Prayer helps to.