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Date:         Tue, 16 Dec 1997 13:19:58 -0800
Reply-To:     "Bob O'Shaughnessy (by way of Old Volks Home
              <jim@oldvolkshome.com>)" <oshaug@INFINET.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.sdsc.edu>
From:         "Bob O'Shaughnessy (by way of Old Volks Home
              <jim@oldvolkshome.com>)" <oshaug@INFINET.COM>
Subject:      Re: Alternator out at *high* rpms?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Old Volks Home (jim@OLDVOLKSHOME.COM) spake thusly on the momentous date of 12/8/97 1:50 PM

>Disconnected the battery and pulled the Voltage Regulator/Brush Assembly. >Sure enough, the brushes were shot all to hell, hardly anything left. Used >an inspection mirror to check the slip ring (the rotating surface the >brushes ride on) and it was smooth and OK, no grooves. Replaced the >VR/Brush Assembly and that cured the problem.

Okay, I pulled the brushes and pretty much knew that the slip ring was shot, as the brushes were of different lengths, by about 5mm, and were worn off-center. It seems that the bearings are okay. I can't tell from my Bentley. Is the slip ring available as a replacement part? How much soldering/pressing is involved in replacing it? ----------------------------------------------------- Bob -

Unfortunately, the slip ring for the Wassers *appears* in the microfilm to be of a one-piece design, integrated onto the rotating Armature, not replaceable as a separate piece. (Notice I said *appears* - it may be removable and replaceable). The only slip rings I could find was for the older Armatures used on the 65A Air Cooled Vanagons, which I know would not work because it mounts on a different sized Armature, so the ID and OD are probably different (OD is probably larger, because the brushes for that one are shorter [Original Rectangle VR for 80-81 models). Another supporting reason that the earlier Armature is differently sized that the Bearings fore and aft are different as well. It might be noted that all replacement Bosch rebuilt AL114X's for the 80-81 models come with the newer Armature, Bearings, "Button" (Hybrid) Voltage Regulator commonly seen on the Wassers.

This is not to say that a local rebuilder wouldn't have an appropriate sized slip-ring that could be installed with or without modification (dunno myself). New bearings would be in order, a press would be needed to accomplish R&R of the Bearings and Slip Ring, etc. Myself, I would check with a local rebuilder for a rebuilt alternator with a good warranty or go with a Bosch Rebuilt (1 Year Warranty) for all that trouble. Depending on the OE Bosch # (three different ones are listed for 83.5-85 Wassers), Bosch Rebuilt is in the neighborhood of over $200 plus $65-$75 on the core charge dependent on the actual core unit. A local rebuilder can probably do ya better than that.


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