Growing up there was always a shop to rebuild alts and starters. Now I do my own. Good to see you show others as well.

This guy is great. I get total Bob Ross vibes from his teaching style. 👍👍

There's a scrapyard not well known in my area that sells tested starters and alternators for $30-35 and gives you ten for your core. Their warranty is one year and is the best kept secret around here and even though it's an hour drive each way is where I go after calling for availability. They give free gas away too whether you buy something or not up to 20 gallons which is the secret.

I used to love working at the local salvage yard. One of the perks of the job was free parts. Within reason obviously. I couldn't just take home stuff all willy nilly as I pleased, but if it was for my vehicle, it was free. I fully restored my 2000 Civic Si for nothing. Replacement engine, starter, alternator, steering pump, ac compressor, full interior, both doors, both bumpers, trunk lid, hood, headlights, tail lights, and wheels.

Great idea to rebuild an alternator. I just learned that a new 175 Amp dealer alternator for my Lincoln Navigator is $1,000.00 here in Canada. A rebuild can be had for about $650.00 to $700.00 (CDN). We have one reputable alternator rebuilder in Toronto that does a quality rebuild for about a quarter of the new price, but they do have a turn-around time of 4 to 7 days, so you have to be willing to be without a vehicle for up to a week.

All the wind, & background "scenery" , reminds me of the White Mountains in Arizona. I remember working on my property and would be working on a bench outdoors and the wind would revv up to 70 mph or so and pick up my table and tools and throw it all 20 or 30 feet or so. Ahhh, such fond memories.

When I was a dealership mechanic back in the 80's and 90's, we would repair alternators, not replace them. The most common problem with GM alternators at that time was the diode/triode, pretty cheap part.

As a retired mechanic you can use a deep wall socket that fits on your inner race to install your front bearing rather than a punch.

Unless the bearing is severely worn or about to fall apart, you can prop it up so that the top surface of the bearing is level. Then clean any dirt off the seal with a clean rag. Next, put a few drops of motor oil on top of the bearing and rotate the bearing by hand for a minute or two. Keep the top of the bearing soaked with oil. If you rotate the bearing back & forth for a few minutes, some oil will usually seep down into the bearing. Unless the bearing is severely worn, it will usually run for a few more years. The thicker the oil you can get into it, the longer it will take to dry out again. If no oil will go down into the bearing, you can pry open the seal a little to get some to go inside the bearing. Damaging the seal is okay, just don't completely remove it. Don't get oil all over the inside of the alternator because dirt will stick to it and make the unit run hotter. Alternators hate that. I used this method on a dry idler pulley on my 2000 Ford Expedition serpentine belt. That was about 5 years ago. I have the new pulley, but am too lazy to install it. And the tensioner spring on that Ford belt is some strong. It is amazing that those bearings last as long as they do. Smart phone photos are good to have before you pull things apart. Free too.

This put me back working with my dad in his shop. Bearings and brushes - and sometimes the Voltage Regulator - would fix any alternator not shorted or with the stator contacts or windings damaged. Same for starters and add (for GM) reversing the copper 'slug' contact in the solenoid - sometimes a re-rivet job on the slug spindle. Then back in the customer's car. Brushes cost less than a buck for a set and bearings usually $1-3 apiece depending on model. Even less for starter bushings. But always use the press, and some penetrating oil - too many damaged shafts and housings otherwise. You can get cheap presses to do the work these days, too. So many things we used to recondition or remanufacture - now they're mainly just throw-away bolt-ons.

James, by your teaching style, you show that we can 'work around' and fix many things we previously would not dare. I bet your kids are GREAT problem solvers. God bless your family John 3:16

I had a '73 Peugeot 504 many years ago, and the brushes went out on the alternator. They are in a small plastic box that is held in by one screw. I disconnected the one wire on the box, removed the box and put 2 new brushes in it without removing the alternator. It was actually made to be easily repaired! The 2 brushes cost me $1.50 at an auto electric shop. So easy!

,my uncle in cambodia always rebuild like u...because parts over there are so limited that u dont throw away like usa...save money and they even try to make parts for that device...off of scraps stuff...i was so suprise how creative people that fix solve problems...nice

That was a nice honest video. I really liked the trick he used welding the nuts to the bearings in order to get them off. A few suggestions always mark a line from one end of the alternator to the other before you do anything so that when you go to put it back together you will know the correct position the 2 ends should go back on. I would also check each diode to make sure they are all good and I would also check the coils to make sure none of them have a short to ground. Still, this was a very nice video.

Well now I know how to do that if I ever needed too. $20 over $80 and the satisfaction of doing it yourself. Priceless. Thanks.

Good diagnosis. Nippondenso engineers are the absolute best in my opinion. NDenso used on Toyota, Honda in 90's best ever. I was a rebuilder for 20yrs and never found one bad bearing, they are oversized. Even their starters have great bearings and metal gears instead of brass bushings. Of course today, more and more magnets and plastic gears. Funny watching some some channels taking the battery cable off when running..Don't!! That's a myth from the old 6V generator days.

That’s the way they used to be done. Rebuilt on site by a mechanic. Things have changed and may go back to the old way.

My Subaru alternator stopped alting. Like you, I thought it would be easy to fix. After I took the case apart, I bought a new alternator. They aren't made like they used to be.

A brother of mine did his starter work like this. Sometimes just cleaning it up a little will do wonders. Glad I found your video.

Thanks for the welding the bearing tip

This reminds me of when I rebuilt the carburetor on my wife's '79 Honda Civic on the dining room table at like 23 years old... Had no idea what I was doing, but I got it done right, lol. Nice video 👍 EDIT: btw, I was 23 - not the car, lol.

My 62 Belair had a generator. Replaced the brushes twice in 35 years - really easy. Bushings seem to last forever when you add a few drops of oil every oil change.

Your dash voltmeter was working fine initially - the needle was on the thick line halfway between 9 & 14 volts, which is 11.5 volts. Close enough to the 11.6V from the plugin reader . . . when it was reading right at the beginning. Obviously when it dropped below 9V & reader was 11.3 that's a big difference . . . Thanks a lot for sharing this video, great to see how easy and cheap it is to fix an alternator. The last one I bought was AU$500 so even $50 for bearings and brushes would be way cheaper.

you can use the old bearing to press the new one, I did this with a washer bearing it avoids the danger of punching a whole in a new bearing.

Recently the alternator in my F150 gave up in Gillette WY late Saturday . Monday was a holiday, and I had plans in Oakland CA that Monday nite. I bought a gas powered elect generator from harbor freight. It had 12 volt output that I wired to the battery. It got me where I needed to be

A few years ago my alternator light started flickering at 100K miles so I panicked and bought a new brush set. I still haven't put it on yet and it's now at 212K miles. I think it fixed itself!

Buy just in case parts on sales from a pull yourself graveyard - at 40% to 50% off - an alt, steering pump, radiator fan & caliper are $15 each - store in a box so 6 mo or a year later one is needed all is paid for

Awesome instructional video, love the old school approach 😎

Usually Bearings are the most common failure except on new cars the decoupler pulley followed by either the Brushes or the voltage regulator. On very rare occasions the diodes go bad but in the thousands of Alternators I rebuilt only once I saw a winding burn up do to over currenting. I would have used the same method to install the front bearing too just a larger socket to drive the outer race of the bearing. Nice to see people that actually rebuild things it's becoming a lost art.

I always enjoy your videos and always learn something from you. You Sir are a man after my own heart, why spend money if you have the time talent and resources to do things yourself, a message that sounds clearly in all your videos. Your desert home shops and property is amazing and your recently acquired depleted silver mine property is like a private museum of creativity with an abundance of resources to make it happen. I worked in the field, fleet maintenance and now retired and honestly I must say you do things I and probably most like me haven’t ever done or live long enough to do.

Cool alternator repair video. I'm often willing to attempt to repair things that others might just replace. Thanks for sharing this.

There's no fun on buying a new one and just replace it. You are the Man 👍🏼

Great video! I drive an '05 Dakota w/ 123,000. No charging issues yet, but I'll keep this in mind. We used to have a guy that did rebuilds in our area, but has since closed up shop.

Good Job!, an alternative to struggling with removing the smaller bearing is to just use a very small screwdriver to remove the grease seal, then clean out the old grease and repack the bearing. Then replace the grease shield. If it spins smooth then you're OK for a while. Just saying' Mike

I like the plug in cigarette lighter volt meter. I want one for oil pressure.😂

Thanks. It's nice to watch a kindred spirit every now and then, we work in similar ways and have like mindedness in humor. Keep up the good, well, OK work.😎🤠

Really happy I found this guys channel very entertaining, thank you for your videos.

Love the video, last time I did something like this was back in Autoshop in school, early 80s. I have people tell me they don't have auto shop in high schools anymore. Wow. Thanks for the great Refresher.

Loved your very entertaining presentation!

It's still very neat to see inside the alternator.

Love your attitude!

It's not the low voltage that gets them, it's that when batteries are going flat and go down in voltage, the current capacity of the battery goes way down. So when it dies at 8v, it may or may not be the system falling below a voltage threshold so much as the battery just cannot put out much current when it is down to 8v.

My experience with alternators is the new one from the parts store doesn't work either and they will gladly keep giving me new ones that won't work until i get angry, demand my original core back, and rebuild it myself.

Great video. I had no idea there were rebuild kits for alternators. Thanks for posting.

to get bearings off the rotor i take the angle grinder and cut grooves into the bearing to get the puller onto.

Getting ready to do this on my 2014 Buick Encore ...right after I just put a new head on it ....ugh ...lol. I looked RIGHT AT the alternator and said nawwww, it's good !! grrrrr ..lol. I'm MUCH to cheap to spend $250-300 on an alternator .... I'm 70 and should know better by now but NOOOOOOOOOO....it's good ...lol. My head lights are flickering at night and believe the alternator to be the culprit ...wish me luck !! Ebay is my best friend too !! Thanks for a great fun video with that REAL WORLD "ooops" in there as well !!

It was definitely helpful. thankYou SIR!

I always use STP when I assemble press fits. CMD EP lube works well too.

Exellente video sir. Thank you for sharing.

I do believe it’s good to know these things to be a good mechanic and I personally have rebuilt many things but I found out long ago that when you buy auto parts at the neighborhood stores, they generally come with a lifetime warranty. All you need to do is keep the vehicle. My 97 blazer has 450k on it and I always get new alternators, brakes, radiators, water pumps, wiper and window motors and more miscellaneous parts. Just saying to keep track of your part purchases. It really save cash too. Thanks for the video..

Hopefully the first trip you took on the test run included a stop at the hardware store to pick up a bearing separator.

Little-known fact, if you get some Synthetic Grease inject that into your bearings and they will almost last you a lifetime, recommend doing this about every 50,000 miles You should have Scotch-Brite at the surfaces where the bearing is going over or inside in the case and the Armature If you keep the screws or bolts in the back cover when you take it off that way you don't make that mistake again? And for the audience please give your city or state or sip code location so we can get an idea of what part of the country you're in? For others that live in your area

Definitely needed this😊

Great idea! I like the idea of welding two nuts to the bearing to get it out. One idea to push out the rod where the brushes make contact is to put a thick piece of wood over it and then hit with a metal hammer. That way the wood deforms and the copper doesn't or doesn't deform as much

Very cool, and a great learning experience. Thanks for sharing this 👍☮️

I use to rebuild my alternators on my 70s and 80s GMs!

Good video. Nice job. Happy Motoring.

nice bit of improvising. quality vid mate.

I always wanted to diy when my daughters car's alternator bearing went wear off but due to lack of tools, like welding machine when u welded that two bolts in order to pull that old bearing, things li,e that, but i enjoyed watching your nice video, by the way, I'm watching this here in Manila, Philippines 🇵🇭. Thanks.

I will always try and rebuild when possible. Great video. Had a BMW Z3 and alternator died. Decided NOT to pay $370+ for alt alone and for $29 got the regulator and fixed. New bearings would have been "nice" but next time. BENEFIT OVER BUYING REBUILT. RE-BUILDERS do NOT replace old parts, only BROKEN PARTS. This means a rebuild MAY have new bearings OR NEW regulator or new BRUSHES, but rarely all 3. Rebuilds die sooner due to old parts not replaced. that is why. readers comments below.

A triumph of cheap bastard determination! Some men climb mountains & pat thousands to do so. Excellent challenge of get er done

BECAUSE sometimes you have the money,not the time …or …the time, not the money Thus you do what you gotta do and knowledge will get ya there…thanks for sharing knowledge 👍

I've always rebuilt stuff like that cause my daddy used to get soooo upset at me for buying a completely refurbished starter or alternator in the 70s..I'm pretty sure I's 13yrs old first started I done and 17yr olds with the 1st alternator cause I also bought used parts for hardly anything back then but I always went through the parts to make sure I didn't get a dud lol..This needs taught to our youth cause it's coming a time where parts for anything is going to be impossible to get or find..I've always collected engine parts that most people throw away but I go through everything to make sure everything's worth keeping..I needed a GM 04 Pontiac Grand Am starter for a 2.2 ecotec engine and I took my starter and a 3400 V6 engine starter and made myself 1 good one but I didn't throw anything away cause never know when I might have to have those extra pieces and parts..A refurbished starter, with my old one is 200 at Advance Auto and 165 at Auto Zone with my old starter. Summit Racing is 106 although they found 1 for 61 bucks that takes a couple weeks to get to me but I'm not going to pass on it..After the process of pricing parts at different places, my new hobby is collecting used worn out parts to rebuild em with other used parts cause times are hard and i have a strong feeling that it's only going to get alot worse than it's ever been when it comes to automobile parts new or used. ..

Thank you for this wonderful video. Have a super great life.

Should check the diodes while you are inside of it. If some are bad, it will still work but have reduced DC current output

The work is easy and if you're not sure it's worth a visit to your local electrical shop to bring yours in and chat with the tech. Most of those are small shops who also sell parts. You can have your alternator load tested at most auto stores before rebuild to help diagnose it then after to confirm its to spec.

As a kid, I used to ride along while my brother in law would do some electric work for a guy who rebuilt starters n alternators. I'd watch a little but ol Earl would fly through them.

great job!

That really the best method to take with a worn alternator. You can buy USA bearings, HD bearings, Wide bearings and HD voltage regulators etc. without having to gamble on a rebuilt alternator from the parts store not knowing how good the inside parts are.

This video was awesome loved it

Another awesome video! Thank you!

Great video. I like your style.

The volt gauge dropping to zero when the Check Gauges light comes on is like the gauge equivalent of an idiot light.

Awesome vid….you were going to town with that mallet near your boys…haha!. Great content on this channel.

Hi , as always intertaining and informitive .

*- Good education tutorial for me. Now I know.* *- I could have done that and done my first weld too...if I had the right size long socket handy.*

Great job Thankyou

Thanks a bunch!

Alternatively, you can pop the dust seals from the outside, and re grease them, makes them good as new essentially

Congrats. Its called repairing vs. being an R&R artist, that is removing and replacing.

This was amazing.

liked that Weld-a Bearing, v.good video.

One of the best jeeps ever made

Like your show good job

A dremel tool and a cold chisel will remove that bearing also but i like that method of welding two nuts and using a steering wheel puller also

I've ground the tips (of a 3-jaw puller) down, to fit in tight a area. Pullers are cheap…well, the ones I modified were.

That's the way that I learned in 1968. In those days the kit was about $2.50.

what about the diode /rectifier ,...do they have this in a rebuild kit ??

Love the dainty little hammer😂

I appreciate your work. I'm a bit lazier so I just bought a lifetime alternator from the auto parts store. I'm on my third alternator. They are going to lose money on me. Oh and sometimes the diodes or voltage regulator go bad in the alternator.

It probably wouldn't hurt to use some bearing retaining compound or thread locker on the outer bearing races if they are not a fairly tight fit I have seen them start to bind with the inner race and spin in the housing but I guess if the bearing is binding it is failed anyway so I don't know that it matters that much it is just in my mind I want the outer bearing race to stay put in the housing.

thank you

The trick to life is to be satisfied with "ish" quality repairs that still work and spend the money you saved either somewhere else or not at all.

Alternator in my sprinter would charge when running, around 14V, but when shut off, it would DISCHARGE the battery rapidly. Tested, and found bad diode pack… I replaced it, but kept the old one, and wanna replace the diode pack. I will be hunting for a new set soon.

That was a good one. My problem is over charging at 196% according too my fancy charger. I replaced the voltage regulator and got the volts down too below 16 but now what? Probably have too replace alternator to get charging down too just 100%

I'm no jeep guy but could it be an intended feature to exaggerate the voltage drop on the gauge so driver will notice the problem as the needle is not midway? I wonder if the other gauges do that if a relating problem arises. Also I think its a neat feature to have a warning light and a chime too. Easy fix with that nater, mine wouldn't be as simple with a vacuum pump on the back and soldered joints.

A brand new alternator from a quick google shows they are like 400 Dollars. Rebuilt ones are probably much cheaper. 20 bucks an hour of your time seems like a good investment.

remember doing that stuff back in the 60's & 70's couldn't afford new stuff so we just took fuel pumps, generators/altenators apart an fixed the broke stuff it DOES save money.

If you don't have a welder, you can cut off the bearing

I have fix a starter for a Honda before. All it needed was brushes.