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Prestolite alternator rebuild

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vinny View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote vinny Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Prestolite alternator rebuild
    Posted: Jul/07/2012 at 4:33pm
After possibly 148K miles on it the bearings sound a little rough on my 64 Prestolite alternator. Just wondering if anyone knows of a kit number available to rebuild it? Everything I read seems to be on the Motorola.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote vinny Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul/14/2012 at 7:32am
Took it apart yesterday and found one slip ring chewed up pretty good. The brushes are down to almost nothing and the leads are soldered in. The bearings are of the needle type in a cage so will be fun getting them out.
I think I'll take it to a local re-builder shop and see if they can do anything with it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bikerfox Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul/15/2012 at 2:31pm
One forum member, Billd, can possibly supply you with parts if you can't find them locally.
1969 Rebel SST (1970-1987)
1968 AMX (2005-2011)
1969 SC/Rambler (2011-2019)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pacerman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul/15/2012 at 3:45pm
IH used Prestolite electrics during the same era that AMC did so you might want to shop around on some of the IH websites and look for expertise there.  Joe
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote vinny Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul/15/2012 at 5:10pm
Thanks,
I've got a couple of spares now, one of which I had given away before and that I had bought many years ago. To my knowledge they are not Delco and not Motorola so possibly Autolite.
They were on Ramblers before but I will need to make up a mounting bracket to fit them.
Looking at the Prestolite again, the slip ring will clean up. I'll begin my search locally to see if I can find a couple of brushes (5/16"? square) to solder in.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote billd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul/29/2012 at 3:51pm
Prestolite/Leece-Neville was the "AM" alternator, literally installed and called the American Motors alternator in the latter half of the 1960s.
It used the ball bearings just like Motorola and also had an isolation diode arrangement.
 
Autolite was later, not the 60s. The 60s was Motorola or Prestolite/AM
(Prestolite bought Leece-Neville, Prestolite sold the Autolite name along with their spark plug manufacturing in the early 60s, so Prestolite is NOT the same as Autolite as you know it, that was pre-1961 and not related in any way to FoMoCo)
 
1963 AMC used Motorola alternators, not sure when Prestolite was used, but by 1970 it was all Motorola.
It was Motorola and Prestolite at least 67/68, unsure of 69
In 1974, the 4bbl cars used a Motorola with an added output terminal - for 7vac to run the electric choke.
In 1975, Motorola lost the status of exclusive supplier of charging systems for AMC cars and AMC started using the Delco 10si on some models, but Motorola was still used as well.
 
After 1976 IF I AM CORRECT about the date, Motorola lost the contract with AMC and were no longer a supplier of charging systems for the AMC cars.
 
In 1980, it was either Delco 10si or a Bosch unit.
 
This is the AM alternator - the Prestolite - it's almost square looking ->
 
 
This is the Motorcraft similar to what they used ->
 
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote vinny Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug/06/2012 at 11:57am
http://www.wps.com/AMC/Parts-Catalog-1960-1965/pdf/Supplement-Ch3-1-31/1.pdf

This was the alternator I was going to rebuild. It was on a 196 and I had made an adapter to put it on the 232. It takes a 6403 bearing and I found a little shop with a sign that said brushes. $4 for the brushes, $5 for the bearing, and $15 to turn the slip rings on the rotor and I can put it back on the 196.

Thanks for that picture Bill. That is the alternator I bought as a spare 20+ years ago. Half an hour of sanding the corrosion and using the bracket that came with the 232, it bolted on perfectly. It works well and I should have gone that route from the start. There is a tag on one of them (friend gave it) that reads ALK 6302, Electric Autolite Ltd., Sarnia Ont., Canada

I would still like to find a spare voltage regulator but all I have seen are the three terminal ones with A, I, and F. Mine has an extra B terminal. The heavy A wire goes from alternator to regulator and the heavy B wire goes from the regulator to the starter. I wonder if I could join the B to the A at the regulator for the three terminal application?


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