Had a service truck come in with a dead alternator, so a swapped in the near new one off of my truck (which is still down for bad timing guides). Decided to rebuild it for fun! The only thing that really goes bad on these things is the brushes, the voltage regulator is pretty heavy duty and it will be obvious if it is fried. When you buy a reman, this is all they do to it.

GREAT video

Pretty sure this is the kit I got. Id email with pics to be sure, they have good customer service. Also got a starter rebuild kit. Starter was fine, but at 200k I figure It should be gone through.
https://alternatorstarterrebuildkits.com/product/3g/


Tear it down, only 3 bolts and the pulley nut (plus the 4 screws holding on the brush assembly. Its a little difficult to pull apart because of aluminum corrosion.


Brushes were toasted and there were deep grooves in the copper. Bearings were in good shape, but you get new ones.

Really the only 'difficult' step is cutting the old brush tower off and soldering on a new one with electrical solder. This is the second time this alt had been rebuilt! You also want to clean and degrease all of the windings.



I then cleaned up the housing and painted it old ford blue. going to paint my valve covers and timing cover when I have it off as well. (Like I said the truck needs all new timing stuff plus gaskets).





Dont forget to pop this insulator back in!

 

How much was that kit?

 

Great writeup! Very satisfying to save money, and let's face it, so many of the "professionals" cut corners it's not even funny. "Lifetime Warranty" on a starter or alternator is nice and all too, but they don't pay me to remove and replace defective units two or three times in a row now do they? The parts houses just shrug their shoulders and put it back on the shelf, apparently. These days especially, if you want something done right.. Well you know the rest.

Bad cess to them.

 

Heck yeah it saves money. Honestly I just always wanted to take one apart. Have not actually used it yet, but I dont see how I could have messed it up.

Kit was 30 bucks!

 

I enjoy that kind of work too. Good job! It's getting to where you can't get parts of this sort at auto part stores. You'd think everybody would want to go that route considering what Ford Truck alternators cost.

 

yeah, wish I could have found a kit to rebuild my MC last year...phoned a bunch of brake parts places, nothing. wound up buying a rebuilt MC... :-(