URGENT. Alternator

[mercedade]

I'm just about to hit the 'bay as I've got a seriously noisy alternator bearing, but before I do I thought I'd check here!

a) Does anyone have an alternator they'd be willing to sell?

b) Will it fit my '98 Vitesse? Rimmers list different models for 2.0 engines with and without air-con, but I'm not sure what the difference is (mine has air-con, but currently non-op)

Thanks

[mercedade]

To sweeten the deal (so you don't have to worry about the faff of boxing up a dirty 5kg lump of metal), if it's located somewhere roughly along the route of Manchester to Basingstoke (either the M5 or M6 around Birmingham, I'm not picky) I can collect it Thursday evening.

If it's somewhere close to Manchester or Basingstoke, I can collect any time!

[scoobyh123]

Just a thought Adrian - do you have any auto electricians near you? Most should be able to renew the bearings for you and advise/fix any other problems at the same time or supply an exchange unit for a similar cost to whatever you can find on fleabay.

[vito]

b) Will it fit my '98 Vitesse? Rimmers list different models for 2.0 engines with and without air-con, but I'm not sure what the difference is (mine has air-con, but currently non-op)

I'm not certain Ade, but I'd guess the air-con version is just higher capacity and as such physically the same size.

[SJG]

There may be a difference in the capacity but I do know there is a difference in the pulley wheels. Aircon has 5 ribs, non has 4.

[CHR15E]

Don't they mount differently? One has an extra bolt hole or something like that?

Or maybe I'm thinking of the PAS pump? Been quite a few years since I swapped one on an 820.

[mercedade]

Thanks chaps - knowledgable chaps. I got there in the end.

As suggested above, there are three differing factors for the '98 Vitesse (with air con)

Rover part number is YLE101850E.

1) Alternator is an A127-IM with 4 mounting holes, not the 3 holes of the A127
2) Output is 100A, not the 85A of the non-air con
3) Pulley has 5 ribs, not 4.

I'll post up elsewhere the war I had getting it sorted!

[scoobyh123]

Glad you got sorted Adrian - as i was going to say when the forum crashed the other day, from memory the main (Drive End) bearing in an A127 is a 6202ZZ but it's a long time (nearly 20 years) since i rebuilt one. The same bearing was used in all the A127s that i came across, later units may have had different though.

The Slip Ring End (back end) bearing can differ across models of the A127 as there are many different applications including diseasel powered vehicles which have a vacuum pump (for the brake servo) attached to the back (Ford Transit comes to mind), others have other sorts of pimps attached to the back some just have the bog-standard needle roller bearing cup.

That aside, most reconditioned alternators are supplied without pulleys and you have to swap them yourself but either way i'm glas you're sorted!

[mercedade]

Dave - almost bang on. It's actually a 6203, with, as you say, a capped needle bearing for the other end.

However, it turns out that the A127-1M is completely different and uses 6003 and 6303 bearings (no capped bearing on this unit). The 98 Vitesse with air-con shares an alternator with a TVR Griffith, in case anyone was wondering!

I ended up using this very helpful guide: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... 3&t=424667 to replace the bearings and it was an absolute PIG of a job. I should have heeded the warning when I couldn't even get the alternator mounting bolts undone without heading out to buy a new 6-sided 1/2" drive 10mm socket. The job itself is easy enough, but I think I was just under-prepared.

It's all gone back together again very nicely, and now I know how hard it is to get the inner race of the smaller bearing off the shaft (and that you really need a puller to separate the casing of the alternator), I could probably do another in a couple of hours, but this took me AGES. Like, a good hour was spent just trying to get the 24mm pulley nut undone - it's really really really really tight, and it's too deep to get a recess ring spanner in, which you need because you need to hold the 8mm hex to stop the shaft turning. Once I had access to a vice, I could shock it using a 15/16ths socket, but it took me a while to arrive at that solution.

Anyway, it works beautifully now - and the brushes had LOADS of life left too, which bodes well.

[scoobyh123]

I did say it was nearly 20 years ago! In fact it will be 20 years in a few months time. Obviously the bearings were upgraded a bit for the later, higher output units. I think the most powerful i did was a 90A jobby built into the same, almost generic, A127 brackets (the usual name for the casings) but i was reconditioning between 8-10 a day, strip down, test each component, repsray brackets and stator, clean and repsray rotor, skim or replace slip rings as needed, renew components as necessary, rebuild and test then stamp with a job number so it was traceable.
Often i had a batch of starters on the go at the same time so i could carry on with them while paint was drying or whatever.

The brushes (assuming they didn't change the voltage regulator design on later ones) are only available as part of the regulator but they're fairly cheap to renew and are one of the most common fails on the A127.

Sounds like you did a good job there!

[mercedade]

The A127-IM is a different casing entirely - 4 point mounting rather than 3 point and the shaft goes through both bearings (rather than into a closed cap like on the A127).

Of course, being a total novice, I only discovered this when I got started meaning the bearings I had in hand weren't right.

Berkshire Bearings in Newbury come highly recommended - the chap who runs it is incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. He even sent me away with a 'spare' 15/16ths spanner for nowt - so I'd have something to butcher if it came to getting the pulley bolt off.