hi, joe.  that wobble was fatal to my alternator.  it's the cup bearing
that holds the shaft at the end, and if it's gone it's new alternator
time; apparently it's too expensive to rebuild them that way.

the little black box is your voltage regulator, which contains the two
brushes that pass along the juice to your van.  the whole box is
replacable with an adjustable regulator, but don't mess with it if you
need a new one.

and it sounds like you do.  sorry.

bill
'87 syncro westfalia
santa cruz, ca

On Friday, March 8, 2002, at 02:02 , Joe Tu wrote:

> I noticed my alternator naking some light knocking noises so I checked
> it
> out today. Turns out there is some play in the shaft, I think it's from
> the
> bearing in the back of the housing. Also I noticed one of the little
> connectors came unsoldered in the back, it's the one that connects to
> the
> little black rubber box thing. What does that little box do anyways?
> There's
> two of them actually, another one connects to the little binding post
> for
> the little wires. Are any other people experiencing this play in their
> alternators? If I recall it's a rebuilt one I bought a while ago. I
> tried to
> take the darned thing apart, but the screws are on so darned tight and I
> stripped the phillips heads trying to get them off.
>
> Joe
>