[bmw] Re: <E28>Siezed Alternator Bearings

["Donald McMahon" <McMahonDon@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Joe, Dan, Ron, Martin etal:

Thanks for the insights/suggestions re: rebuilding alternators.

See questions below.

I was able to get bearings at a local Bosch starter/alternator shop.

Taking the alternator apart I was amazed at the difficulty of breaking
the various nuts, screws & bolts.  The front 24mm nut was particularly
difficult - solved by clamping my 24mm crescent in a vise and using
my half inch breaker bar with a 8mm allen hex on the shaft socket.
The bearings where not as bad as I had first expected.

The bearings were not difficult for me to remove because when I  
had everything apart I noticed that the rear bearing they gave me 
was wrong! So I left the bearings on, an trundled down to the shop 
this Monday showed them the wrong bearing and suggested while 
they were back there they pull/draw the bearings off the shaft - 
which they did - no charge. The additional down time gave me a
chance to clean everything to a pristine condition. I had thought of
a way to pull the bearings without using a bearing puller but did
not have to resort to it.

Tonight I will try to reassemble everything. Dan suggested that I 
get the "slip rings dressed."  Are these the copper electrodes
the graphite points rub against? Should I use medium or red
thread lock on any of the screws bolts? Any ideas on the torque 
values on the front nut or through bolts?

Thanks Again,
Don McMahon, Okemos, MI

PS don't rebuild your own alternator, unless you have to or
like to waste a lot of time - whata PITA!
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