Hey guys I was having some alternator problems so swapped out the brushes, which was simple enough. when I took the bushes out I noticed that they didnt wear at the same rate? is this normal(I am by no mean a mechanic!)or do I have another problem that I should be looking at? The alternator is working just fine now, there are no noises or any oddities that I can tell other than the unusual wear. Thanx!
M@B

 

did you check the brush springs and rings?

 

Everything seemed to be okay?
I just swapped in a whole new brush holder assembly so if the springs in the old one were messed up I guess I wont have to worry about that any more....

Also I guess I should have mentioned that the alternator is only 30,000kms old.

It's not that changing the brushes out is a big deal, I just don't want to have to worry about doing this out in the middle of no where on the trail.
I did buy two so I have a spare onboard.

 

All the alternators ive seen seen had uneven wear on the brushes. They should last about 100,000 to 200,000 km so you definetly got short changed. Was in a bosch? Googled it, there are alot of explanations for uneven wear.

 

Okay thats good to hear that uneven wear is normal. guess it was just crappy carbon in that brush maybe....we'll see.
Thanx for the replys guys!
M@B

 

Uneven wear is normal, however that looks excessive, especially since it only has that few miles on it.... what did the rest of it look like? any sharp uneven spots on the surface the brushes ride on?

 

This is normal. Crap gets into the brush holder and makes them stick. Also what causes issues is carb and brake cleaners. They soften up the plastics and brushes in the alternator causing problems. Some people clean off oil after they worked on an engine with brake cleaner which I do all the time but I make sure I do not hit the alternator with it.

James

 

All great info guys! The inside of the alternator looked normal no uneven or sharp spots. I think like some of you have mentioned that something maybe jammed the spring up and burned the brush out.
But for guys that have alternator problems they are easy to rip apart and fix for the most part. Don't waste money on a new or rebuilt one till you try and do it yourself. The parts place wanted 150 bux for a rebuilt one. And I bet a rebuilt one is just one with new 6 dollar brushes!!

 

Make sure take some emery cloth and clean up the copper contact rings and make them smooth again and to get the film off of it as well.

James