Madge the Magnum’s alternator failed at 560,000km and was replaced. It’s has now done 945,000km and so it’s reasonable to assume that it will fail again sometime next year or so. I was going to sell it but due to a change in circumstances I’m going to try to muddle along for another year or so.
I’m assuming that 99% of alternators fail because the brushes have worn out, would this be correct? If it is, I’m wondering if I could fit new brushes in the alternator now as preventative maintenance?
When I was a teenager, many years ago, we used to fit new brushes to cars regularly, but this was when cars had generators rather than alternators, is it possible to re-brush a truck alternator, has anybody done it, is it much of a faff, is it worth doing, any other advice etc?
Diode pack probably the most common, followed by bearings collapsing.
My general view on all rebuilding of components is you do need to be very careful not to slip into wasting time and money. It seems to work if you are rebuilding loads of them regularly almost like a production line but when doing a one off it’s easy to break something during dismantling or if the repair is seemingly successful for it not to last long and all this to not save much on an off the shelf rebuilt one.
It might be better to just swap it out then if you can repair the old one stick it on ebay, or something.
Replaced brushes loads of times successfully ,they shouldn’t be that dear ad they are simple to fit ,once you remove the alternator cover it is 2 screws ,old brush pack out new one in
I would if I knew they had worn prematurely due to some fault in the system or maybe if they can be done cheaply and easily without removing the alternator. If there’s nothing wrong with the alternator I wouldn’t remove it to speculatively change them chances are you’ll find they’re fine. The brushes are a lot better lasting than 25 years ago.
It’s definitely the case there’s too much of a tendency in the industry, these days, to swap whole parts out willy nilly but on the flip side you can spend time and money attempting repairs on parts that you just can’t escape have seen 500k miles of wear so you have to take an overall view.
Depends on the type of alternator fitted, have changed the brush pack in my old fh a few times over the years which is only a five minute job without having to remove it,it’s never had a new one and is around 935000 ks now
After nearly a million clicks would think the slip rings would be just about shot anyway.
Dont know why they havent started using brushless alternators by now.