Received wavetrain's generator here Monday, and man, does it look good. Took a peek inside, and it is cleaner than mine, and shows zero evidence of wear on the commutator. Brushes and bushing/bearing also great. Decided not to tempt fate by trying to remove the pulley, and just cleaned up the new gen., then primed and painted it. Will go ahead and finish the re-furb. on my old gen., and keep it for a spare.

Installed it this morning, and guess what? No charge!!!??. Checked all connections, etc. No go. Pulled the gen., and took it with me to work this evening (scratched hell out of that beautiful paint job too). As I was turning this humongous plate in the lathe, I began to think of all the things that could be wrong. So I took my lunch, and pulled the back plate off. Long story short, paint had dusted the commutator and brushes ever so lightly. Enough to smear and prevent good contact. Wire brushed the armature and brushes till the paint residue was gone, then re-assembled my new, scratched up generator. Installed it a bit ago, and it charges just fine.

What an idiot. Next time, I will make sure the vents are plugged when painting.

Thanks wavetrain, your word was gold. You said it worked fine 15 years ago when it was removed, and so it does! The generator is great, and Gertie is on the road again.

 

If I had a buck for every time that I didn't mask something off well enough...I'd be retired by now. And be able to make mistakes on my truck full time.