Alternator slip ring runout
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Tuned
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 343
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From: Arizona
Alternator slip ring runout
Several years ago, I rebuilt an alternator from an early/mid 90's Ford truck. Among other things, I took the rotor to an alternator shop and had them put new slips rings on it. After I put it all back together, I had the shop test it on their run-up machine. It's been sitting around ever since as a spare.
Recently, I'd been getting suspicious of the old, ugly-looking alternator in my dad's truck. Today I finally got around to doing something about it. I took it out, popped the regulator off, and sure enough the brushes are on their last leg. I grabbed the rebuilt spare and took its regulator off just to make sure everything still looks OK after sitting all that time. The slip rings looked slightly corroded so I spun the rotor by hand and cleaned the rings with Scotch Brite. To my surprise, I could feel a noticeable runout on the slip rings. Looking closely, I could see that the rotor itself did not have runout, but only the slip rings.
Did the alternator shop do bad work installing these slip rings? Are the rings faulty? Is some runout acceptable, or is this a time bomb?
Recently, I'd been getting suspicious of the old, ugly-looking alternator in my dad's truck. Today I finally got around to doing something about it. I took it out, popped the regulator off, and sure enough the brushes are on their last leg. I grabbed the rebuilt spare and took its regulator off just to make sure everything still looks OK after sitting all that time. The slip rings looked slightly corroded so I spun the rotor by hand and cleaned the rings with Scotch Brite. To my surprise, I could feel a noticeable runout on the slip rings. Looking closely, I could see that the rotor itself did not have runout, but only the slip rings.
Did the alternator shop do bad work installing these slip rings? Are the rings faulty? Is some runout acceptable, or is this a time bomb?
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