Generator Front Bearing Retainer Plate

[Tom Wesenberg]

Here is a picture showing a good retainer plate on the left and what many hammer mechanics can do to it on the right. I use a 1/4" flat tip punch and a flat steel surface to straighten them. Sometimes I'll fold an old wash cloth twice, so it's 4 layers thick and lay that on top of the steel plate, then lay the damaged retainer on the cloth and hammer the dents out.

If I had a vertical mill I'd make an aluminum plate with the impression of the good plate in it. That would make restoring the plate very easy. On the damaged plate you can see the center hole has some metal deformed inward, and this will scrape on the bearing retainer C clip, making a squeek or scraping noise. Just file the hole round and make sure no part of the plate scrapes on the bearing or C clip. You must also be sure the bearing retainer C clip is squeezed tight to the shaft. Just use a plier and keep going around the C clip until it's round and tight to the shaft.

Most of these damaged plates look like someone tried to remove them without drilling the rivets first. They probably used a hammer and chisel and tried to pry it off the end plate. Just use about a 3/16" drill bit to remove most of the rolled lip of the rivet. As you drill, the rivet will want to spin, but by holding my finger on the rivet head and drilling at an angle, most of the rolled lip can be removed. Then just take a small diameter punch and tap the rivet out the front of the end plate. Notice the notch in the bearing retainer, which is to clear the rivet for the oiler cover.

To fasten the bearing plate during reassembly I like to use the rivet/nuts that the dealers sell.

[Kurt in NJ]

Tom, I used to have a bar of metal I cut away recesses to straighten those plates, it was long before I had a milling machine, only cold chisels, dremel,hack saw and files ---it wasn't pretty like the fixtures you make, but it worked, for rivits then I used pop rivits, about that time I got a pop riviter for christmas and was looking for uses for it.

This attention the the restoration of a seemingly minor hidden part is the difference between a true restoration that restores the original reliability and function and the "paint" restoration (this GD original sh-- is nothing but trouble I need to modify it to be reliable)

[Tom Wesenberg]

Thanks Kurt. One other thing I was thinking of trying was to fill a tuna can with cement, then wax or grease the good end plate and press it into the cement just enough to leave the full impression. That should work for at lease a few straightenings of damaged bearing retainer plates.

[Kurt in NJ]

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I have had good results on other "molds" using bondo, covering the item with saran wrap, after the bondo cures the saran wrap peels off, perhaps for a longer lasting job "all metal", or epoxy