Belts Breaking :(

So I went on ahead & scrapped the 65 am external alt that my father-in-law bought for me & went with a Ford 3G 130 alternator along with the coveted Taurus fan (pulled from a 3.8L Taurus). The was a problem in that the 3G Alternator Pulley was for a serpetine belt, & my 170 Falcon runs off a V-belt. So i took a V-belt Alternator pulley from an older car (maybe an 80's Reliant) & put it on my 'new alternator'.

After much cussing, blood & sweat i installed the fan & alternator along with a fan controlling unit. Got the van ready to go for a weekend surf-camping trip in North San Diego Country. I broke a belt the night before so I put another belt to replace it. Going down was a breeze (although the belt started screeching) but it kept the van cool in traffic & the Alt was charging the battery so whatever.

My wife got a gnarly migraine this morning so we came ended our camping trip (after 1 night) and I was driving up the 5 when the belt broke (i only knew cause the temp was getting hot). I replaced the belt, hauled down on it with a crowbar to get the belt as tight as possible. 3 miles later that belt broke. I had 2 more replacements, no worries. Replaced it & that one broke in 5 miles. So I said my prayers on this last belt & put it on...but not very tight & gingerly drove home.

The last belt held on but I have a feeling it'll go to. Any suggestions? Visually it looks as if everything is aligned but it maybe off a 1/2inch but I can't tell from the angles i'm looking at. The 3G alternator is harder to turn than my Generator i took off & fairly harder than the 65amp alternator my Father-in-law bought online from falconparts.com

Could my alternator be bad/rusted? (it charges 12.6amps at idle & 13.4+ while gas is applied)... How precisely aligned does the belt? (as i said from a visual assessment everything looks good)

Any thoughts suggestions? I feel like i'm sooo close to having the falcon becoming a reliable vehicle, but its not there yet hahahaha!

thanks!!!

It sounds like the alternator is bad OR it is getting full field voltage and is running under maximum load constantly. Like maybe the regulator is bad or is mis-wired. I would double check your wiring, you should not be going through belts like that.

Check voltage of the feild wire while it's running, w/o disconnecting it, should be the white/blk wire, comes from the middle of the regulator and plugs back in to the alt between there and b+. It should be pretty low, much less than 12v+

alright, will check it out! I took the belt off yesterday & the pulley on the ALT spun so much easier than it did last weekend. Thanks for the heads up & i'll give it a try

They make a tool that uses a laser to align pulleys.

Dayco and Gates make ones for serp belts, I also found this one for V belts.
http://www.monarchinstrument.com/pdfs/manuals/L80manual.pdf
Call around and try to find a shop with one.

Once the pulleys are correct, then check the output.
With a proper regulator, the alt output should only be enough to run the electrical load while driving and a bit more to keep the battery charged.
For example, if you are driving along the freeway 5 during daytime, the following components and loads would be normal - ignition system (5 amps or less), radio (2-5 amps unless it's a big amplifier and loud) and gauge functions (a couple amps). No lights, wipers, heater fan, electric radiator fan etc. So as you can see, less than 20 amps during daytime.
If there is a problem with the charging system such as a poor circuit between the output of the alt and the battery or the regulator is seeing less than actual system output and is causing excessive amperage, the alt should be just loafing along. You need to make sure this is inspected so the belt isn't overloaded.
However, the 130 amp alt has an inch wide belt to spread the high load for a reason (along with a greater 'wrap' around the pulley and the spring loaded tensioner), instead of a narrow V-belt.
It's like bolting in a 460 V8 and expecting the 6 cylinder driveshhaft and rear axle to live. Provided you don't ask for any more power from the BB than the six, you won't break things.

alt bearing going bad ?? alignment? simple take a yardstick or metal scale & check all drive pullys for alignment to alt pulley!! Check for that pulley (V belt) you installed from something else (car??) is that the same v-notch size?? depth of belt??? also check belt sizes (Vgrove sizes) as can be different-spacer behind the pulley ?? size??many variables can be different! running 1 belt only??