Best source for alternator?

[Red Ryder]

The bearings are whining. Best source for replacement of the original 90 amp alternator in our 1990 WBX?
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“Most everyone’s mad here. You may have noticed I am not quite all there myself.” — Cheshire Cat, Adventures of Alice in Wonderland

“Scarlett” — 1990 Vanagon Carat Wolfsburg Edition (Tornado Red)
“Nigel” — 1999 Jaguar XK8 convertible (Alpine Green Metallic)

[kamzcab86]

I bought the first one at AutoZone... wrong pulley and after swapping, the alternator was making a noise. Swapped pulleys back and returned the alternator to AutoZone.

I bought a rebuilt Bosch from Autohaus AZ (doesn't come with pulley), which has been performing fine for a few years now.
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1990 Vanagon Westfalia: Old Blue's Blog
2016 Golf GTI S
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." - 孔子

[riceye]

Another option is to find a shop that will replace bearings and brushes in yours and clean up the slip ring. Those shops are a dying breed, nowadays.

Alternately, you could try it yourself. It isn't very difficult once you achieve your YouTube master's certification.
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'87 Westy Weekender - daily driver on salt-free roads

There's gonna be some changes made.

“I find that things usually go well right up until the moment they don't.” - Ahwahnee

"Quality isn't method. It's the goal toward which the method is aimed." - Socrates, later quoted by R.M. Pirsig

[Ahwahnee]

Mine came from AutoZone more than 22 years ago. Had to replace it once about 14 years ago.

It has a lifetime guarantee and can be swapped in a few minutes in their parking lot (they even let me use their impact wrench for the pulley nut).

With locations everywhere (including Mexico) I feel well covered.

[djkeev]

The bearings in the alternator are very common bearings.
I can dig up the numbers.....
being so common the market is flooded with cheap odd shore bearings that can be had retail for just a few dollars.

Alternators most often fail by bearing failure, brush failure or voltage regulator failure.
The brush and regulator are a 10 minute replacement.

The bearings require more work to renew but what bearings do you think the mass rebuilders are using?
Yep, probably the cheap off shore ones they buy in bulk for a buck.

I rebuilt my 86 Alternator years ago and installed two high quality bearings that actually cost me more than a rebuilt alternator!
I figured for such a hard working item, I don't want it failing because of a cheaply made ball bearing!

Dave
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[jlrftype7]

I bought a rebuilt from NAPA after my first Altn. started to act up with what was probably a diode pack starting to fail or maybe it was a brush or ring issue. Previously, I had installed a new Voltage Regulator on the old one, that worked for a good few months until the new issue cropped up. At that point I could also hear the bearings getting worn ,so it was time for a whole new unit. No need to throw a belt from seized bearings....
I too had to swap the pulley from the old unit to the new NAPA unit since it came with that weird deep/long pulley on it. But after that ,it's been faithfully working for months now, so far , so good.

I have another Altn that came with a 1.9 core that I bought recently from Small Car Performance. With that one, I was planning on taking it apart to learn how to change the bearings like Dave was talking about. Good learning experience on a non-installed unit.
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'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
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‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[Californio]

I bought a high-amp replacement from these folks, worked perfectly the last three years.

https://www.qualitypowerauto.com/item_447/VW-Vanagon.htm

[Red Ryder]

Thanks for the input. Bought a new alternator (not remanufactured) online with no core return required. I will save the original one just in case…
_________________
“Most everyone’s mad here. You may have noticed I am not quite all there myself.” — Cheshire Cat, Adventures of Alice in Wonderland

“Scarlett” — 1990 Vanagon Carat Wolfsburg Edition (Tornado Red)
“Nigel” — 1999 Jaguar XK8 convertible (Alpine Green Metallic)