Does anyone have any experience or information about the weight savings obtainable by converting a generator to a light weight alternator? How about the lightweight starters? worth doing?

Yes, on both counts, and Yes in both cases.

I have replaced a generator on a Cub with a B & C lightweight alternator. As I recalled, that saved about 5 or 6 pounds. The big improvement, though, was that I could actually leave the landing light on for more than ten minutes without running the battery down.

If I were to do this again, and what I'll do when this alternator shoots craps, is go to one of the new Plane Power alternators. They are lighter than B & C, they are self regulating so you do away with regulators and that nest of wires ahead of the firewall, and they are available in several flavors: 40 up to I think 70 amp. Best of all, unlike the B & C, these are pma'd, so easier to get approved.

As to starters, I had a lot of bad luck with Lycoming geared starters in Huskys-they never lasted more than 400 hours. Switched to SkyTec starters, and never had a problem again. Weight difference: 8 pounds.

At one point, I put a Lamar L/W starter on my 170, and it didn't last 200 hours. Replaced with a Sky Tec, and it's going strong after several hundred more.

The L/W starters also REALLY crank hard, so for an airplane that has a sorta wimpy start, these are really the ticket.

No down sides that I've found.

Another thing to consider is the Odyssey battery. Eight to ten pounds lighter than a standard battery, and THEY also crank like crazy. Friends just put one in a 140 and couldn't believe the difference, even though the "old" battery was only two years old.

We took a total of 44 pounds off several Super Cubs, by changing Generator, starter, battery and oil cooler to more modern components. That's serious weight savings in a small airplane.

MTV

mtv wrote:Yes, on both counts, and Yes in both cases.

Yes, yes, and yes...

Get rid of that 1920's technology junk and stick on a high torque, light weight starter and/or alternator. World of difference.

My experience has been with B&C equipment, and the Feds messing with our field approvals decades ago, but I've been nothing but satisfied in how things work. A bit pricey to buy, the B&C anyway, but damn that stuff works nice. As long as you're dumping fuel and fire into that engine, it's gonna start, and if not, fly it home just spinning with the starter. And power for any avionics/electronics you need to run.

Gump

Yep,

Money well spent, the alt kits are really great, you can add all that new amp grabbing gear.

Course you could just spend the same amount on HID lights and use the balance of that 20 Amp generator to run the radios

My starter went titsup a couple years ago, right at the start of a flight to Idaho. I made it to Elko by hitting the starter with a wrench, but then I lost my touch. I learned to hand prop my airplane and almost lost two fingers...not to the spinning prop, but to the sharp trailing edge while I spun it over and over and over again...there's a learning curve to everything.

When I got back home I was all set to buy a lightweight starter...a savings of over six pounds! On a lark I asked a local shop how much it would be to rebuild my old starter, and they said they'd do it for $38...so needless to say I still have that old, heavy starter.

I'm always tempted to upgrade to lightweight parts, but the weight savings adds up to more than $75 per pound...a rate at which just leaving your sectional at home is worth fourteen dollars!

I guess the lightweight parts do work a lot better, and if you have to pay a mechanic to swap a part out, it probably makes sense.

Haven't done it yet but I have been looking into it recently. I found a STC for the Luscombe to put a B&C alternator on the C-85 and they claim a 10 pound weight loss. The guy is hoping to get cubs, t-carts, and 140's added to the STC. He was also working on a light weight starter STC that would get rid of the cable engaged starter, another 10 pound reduction.

I looked at the Plane Power site and didn't find a PMA'd alternator for small continentals but they did have them for experimentals.

Jon

Hammer wrote: I learned to hand prop my airplane and almost lost two fingers...not to the spinning prop, but to the sharp trailing edge while I spun it over and over and over again...

One should never wrap his fingers around the prop,

One should never wrap his fingers around the prop,

I didn't.

Wow! Great information! Thanks to all. The stronger starting and output alone would make the decision for me. I was a bit worried about getting less reliabilty from lighterweight components.

44lbs off of a supercub? What (aside from the alt/starter/battery) did you change?
I have heard that when someone replaces their panel they frequently find weight savings in the miles of obsolete wiring etc. removed in the process.

Again, thanks for all the help.

Twin,

The super Cub mods were:

1) Dan's A/C under seat battery mod--Odyssey battery -9 pounds, and minus several feet of cable, battery box, structure to mount aft, etc.

2) B & C Alternator replaced clunky 8 amp generator.

3) Skytec starter replaced Lycoming Geared starter.

4) Aluminum oil cooler on rear baffle replaced brass oil cooler up front.

That's it. 44 pounds. Done on at least five SC's that I know of.

MTV