I'm replacing my wife's alternator and the old one had a notch that came out of the side on the shaft of the alternator that kept the external fan and the belt pulley from spinning freely.

The new alternator has the exact opposite, a RECESSED notch on the side of the alternators shaft... I know some new alternators have internal fans and you are suppose to simply not use the old external fan but it seems like the pulley alone would have 1/2" of play as the nuts threads don't go far enough down to lock the pulley alone in place.

I added pictures of the new alternator's recessed shaft and the old fan and pulley to show what i'm talking about as my limited knowledge of Volvo's has left me with a poor grasp of correct terminology to explain my problem...

So im wondering if i'm missing a part or if they gave my wife the wrong alternator...it appears to be a rebuild as it came without a box or instructions....

Any help would be appreciated and thanks in advance.

 

that notch that came out of the side of the old one is probably a key, which you remove and put in the slot on the new one.

 

craaaaap...thats what i was afraid of...I either didnt see it fall off when I removed the old one or it was stuck onto it and I didnt realize it came off at all and the wife turned it in with the old core....anyone know where to get one secondhand?

 

hit a car parts store... I'd go to a independent store specializing in imports, I bet they have them in a bin in back. I googled it, they are called Woodruff keys.