Dear WorryWart Idiot ......
( just had to use the term ! ) ..

I wouldn't take it back apart now myself.
I would get a good used 90 amp bosch alternator ..
and inspect those commentator rings ..
even talk to a rebuilding shop about cleaning them up perhaps ..
put in an new VR, ( make sure the bearings are good ) ,
then install that one on your westy ..check charging voltage of course.
and use your current one to examine, and possibly rebuild, and carry for a
spare.

if you are into fixing it yourself..
and going on semi-remote trips and being your own rescue team ..
one should, or could,  have more than one alternator total.

Scott
turbovans.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rocket J Squirrel" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 7:14 PM
Subject: Re: Alternator Brushes Wore Out Pretty Darn Quick

> On 08/22/2011 05:58 PM, Tom Hargrave wrote:
>> Fast alternator brush wear is almost always caused by burned or
>> pitted commutator rings.
>>
>> Did you check them when you replaced the regulator or did you just
>> change out the regulator?
>
> Well, as I wrote, I was in a campsite and didn't have confidence that I
> could get ahold of the forward nut of the alternator pivot bolt in the
> bracket. So, no, I did not inspect the commutator rings and, for that
> matter, don't know how.
>
>
>> Most just change the regulator&  then blame the regulator when the
>> brushes fail in a few months or weeks.
>
> I sure don't want to be in that category of hapless idiot. I am my own
> category, the worrywart idiot, and now I need to address the worn
> commutator possibility.
>
> Can anyone explain how, and what to look for?
>
> --
> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
> Bend, Ore.
> 1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
> 1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company in
> San Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.
>
> Sent from my kitchen.