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worked a miracle this evening...

Big Ray

Big Ray

The Older I Get, The Grumpier I Become!
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Alternator took a dump Sunday evening...I mis-read my meter and thought it was one of the batteries.

Took a look Monday after work, discovered it was the alt. The Rear bearing came out of the case...

Money is tight, decided to nurse it 'till payday. Remembered today I have a TBI alt for the crate engine, looked, it won't fit. Then I remembered the alt I took off the 86. It had a bad bearing...

Took the bad alt off the 90 to see what exactly was wrong. The rotor tore up the stator, shorted out a mess of those ridges inside of it...

Took the 86 alt apart. The front bearing is bad...the electronics look like toast...brain starts thinking...

Took the rear case from the 86, put in the electronics, rotor and front case from the 90...Viola!

works like a champ!

Meter says 14 volts, factory gauge says about 12.5...

It'll do 'till a can drop a higher output unit in there...:waytogo:
 
Any port in a storm,right??...been there myself before,had to make "one out of two" plenty of times--like when my starter cranked perfectly,but the drive refused to turn the engine...luckily I had a few junk starters that had a useable starter drive that croaked because of bad armatures or solenoids,and I was able to assemble a working unit from 2 or 3 "junk" ones!..................................................................................................Salvage yards save my butt more often than I can count...when I had an altenator croak on my truck far from home,I called several parts stores and all of them wanted 100+ bucks for a rebult one,or they didn't have any on hand...I called a junkyard nearby,they said I'd have to come pull one off myself,or paw thru their pile of inventoried ones...when I got there I found a nice double pulley one that was 63 amps,much better than my old 37 amp one,for 15 bucks with my old core exchanged...I used that for another 5 years and it was still on the truck when I sold it.................................................................................................................................................................................................................I've had a few junkyards I deal with locally just tell me to "take it" when I'm low on cash,and the part was somthing they would likely just end up crushing anyway...hell,I even go there when I need anti-freeze or a bulb,etc,when I'm near broke and dont have 10-20 bucks to buy it new...................................................................one day last summer the distributor cap on our '93 Caravan decided to start arcing to the intake,and it wouldn't run for crap--all the stores I called didn't stock one,nor a rotor,and the pair of them would have costed about 35 bucks!...:eek:..........................................................................................I went to the junkyard,found a like new cap & rotor off another van identical to ours,and it must have had been tuned up just before it was scrapped....when I showed the guy at the gate what I was buying,he just grinned and said "Dude--if your buying THOSE here,you MUST be hurting !--have a nice day!..and he waved me away....I brought him a hot coffee a fw minutes later--if he knew a know one was 35 bucks I bet he wouldn't have been so generous maybe?...
 
I remember almost getting fired from the auto parts store I worked at one saturday afternoon,when a guy in a big Winnebago type RV came in about 20 minutes before closing time (3 pm!) and he was desparate--every place he tried to buy an altenator at before he tried our store had none the right "clock" position ,and it had to be a "9" o clock position on the plug,otherwise it couldn't be used...................................................................................................We had every other altenator in stock BUT the "9" o-clock style...I suggested maybe he could buy an extender harness for the 2 pronged plug,but after looking at his engine I didn't see how it would work...it simply needed the "right" altenator ,or it wasn't going to fit & work...................................................................................................Since I had taken many Gm altenators apart in the past to replace diode trios and regulators,bearings,etc,I figured I would do the guy a favor,and just take one of the other ones we had that were "wrong" apart,and just "clock" the case to "9" o-clock...not a big deal to me--but when my boss walked by and saw the rebuilt altenator apart on the counter and me fooling with it,he turned beet red and proceeded to ream me a new butthole,saying "you just voided ANY warranty that had,if it doesn't work,YOUR paying for it,and we aren't going to stand behind it if it doesn't work--he looks at the customer and says "you OWN it now,even if it wont fit or work"..................................................................................................I just kept assembling it like I was deaf,and after I had it all back together in about 10 minutes,I took it out to the room where the altenator tester was and hooked it up,it tested out fine...sold it to the guy,and he went out in the parking lot and started installing it...my boss comes out and says "see that sign??..it says "NO REPAIRS TO BE PERFORMED IN THE PARKING LOT"....the guy basically told him to go (blank) himself,"I'm not spilling any fluids or anything,if I could move the dam thing I would,but it cant be started up halfway apart"!!...............................................................................................I was walking by ,heading for my truck,it was now after 3 pm,and the guy thanked me for trying to be helpful,and hoped I wasn't going to get fired for doing so...I said if I did,I would be glad,I was sick of working for a dick-head anyway"...I wasn't aware that my boss was standing just out of sight a few feet away...oops!..:doah:.....................................................................................................................................................................................the guy asked me if I had a wrench he could borrow,I said I had tools in my truck...after a few minutes he had it all together,he fired it up with a jump pack,and it started charging nicely...my boss was standing there,and he gruffly says "umm---well,he'd better HOPE it works,because he aint getting another one HERE!"...then he looks at me and says "I want to see you in my office monday morning"...I said "OK",and went to leave,but the guy in the RV called me over,and hands me a 50 dollar bill out of the window,and he says --"if you lose your job,call me--my number is written on that bill!..I can hook you up with a better job than this place"............................................................................................................I thanked him,and he sped off...........monday morning came and went,and my boss never came in until noontime,and he just gave me dirty looks all day...never said boo to me about the whole episode after that either....I think he was just pissed because I went out of my way to help someone and he wanted to leave right at 3 pm that day,and I ended staying about 15 extra minutes...which I wasn't paid for,despite making him a 100+ dollar sale that would have otherwise not happened........................................................a few months later I bailed out another desparate customer who needed a starter,and we didn't have any of the typical GM small block hi-torque ones in stock,but I was able to take one that fit a Buick apart and swap the old nose from the old starter onto it...my boss wasn't there that day,but he did find out when he went to count up the cores and found one that didn't jive with the numbers on the box...he started reaming me out again,but when I told him I charged the guy an extra 20 bucks ,because the Buick starter costed more,he shut right up.......I haven't missed working there one bit,and that was almost 20 years ago...how he still manages to stay open and own the place baffles me...
 
Your boss was a real asshat. I'm sure that guy has not too many friènds and his workers hate him. At least you could donut and get some people back on the road. The boss still got his money and the customer got back down the road. In the end that should be the biggest concern of the parts store. You shoulda told the boss if you didn't get this guy the part come Monday morning it may still be sitting there if you couldn't get it moving or fixed. I'm sure he wouldn't be happy bout that either. Lol
 
Yeah,he did mention having the camper "pushed next door to the repair shop",that is in the same parking lot (run by a customer),when the guy asked me for some wrenches...he said "push it over THERE,maybe they'll RENT you some".......................he was,and still is a tool.....................................................................................................I dont miss that job much,I only made about 310 a week take home working 53 hours,including every saturday till 3:30...the boss decided to be the latest store to close then in town,so he could get all the stragglers who didnt make it to the other stores in town...then he gets pissy when those people come trotting in at the last minute,and want a lot of parts,like a complete exhaust system,etc..and we'd end up leaving after closing time..what did he expect??..also,a lot of the customers only came there because they bought parts that didn't end up being right elsewhere,and those places were locked up till 8 am monday morning....................I was unpopular with the boss because I'd worked at the other stores in town and many old customers that would never set foot in his store seeked me out because I knew trucks,and would spend a half hour finding the right u-joints,etc,when there was no "application" you could use....he hated that,especially if we were busy...but,I did make him a lot of sales,and sure,some times the parts would come back for a return in greasy boxes--but our garage customers did it all the time ,they get refunds--why not "regular" customers....his "you buy it,you own it" electrical item policy caused endless hassles too..........................................................................................................When we sold a starter or other parts with core charges,we had to initial the box it came in,so when we stacked the cores up and we'd pack them on a pallet and shrink wrap them,the boss could open every box and see if the starter was the correct core..he didn't know jack about fixing cars,but he could identify a part very good just by looking at it,and know what it fit...someone else put my initial on a few cores when they realized they gave the customer too much core credit ,like when a low torque starter was brought back and put in a hi-torque box,which happens a lot on GMs...rather than let him ream me out,I just said I didn't SELL that number starter that week--he even went back thru ALL the recepits that week,and he proved my point when he admitted I hadn't .....:D....................................................................................................................................................................................................I told him I had about a dozen "junk" Gm starters at home if he's so desparate to make up the 5 bucks difference for the core charges..................:rolleyes:..I didn't stay there long after that,one of my best friends died a few weeks later,and I decided I didn't want to work there after I went to his wake and kinda floated around in a stupor for a couple days without calling in sick,my boss and the woman I worked for weren't impressed with that,told me "even if it were a family member,the company rules allow 3 days to grieve...without pay".....they also said "If you want to take two weeks off to get your head together--go ahead--but dont expect your job to be here when you come back"...thats when I said "Then I wont BE back".....and I ended my employment right there...that was 1994,and I haven't worked for anyone since....except ME!.....
 
I'm lucky to have only had a couple boss's like that. I wish I could work for myself. If do something wrong and have to yell at myself. Lol. What would the customers say. Haha.
 
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