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Oilhead Alternator Brush Wear

m_stock10506

Active member
My R1100RT has just a little over 200,000 miles. The alternator is original, never repaired or modified.

I've replaced plenty of brushes on my Airheads in far fewer miles. What's reasonable life of the brushes on an Oilhead alternator?
 
I looked at mine at 150,000. They were 1/2 worn and the slip rings had noticeable grooves in them.
The unit was running fine.
Not that I needed to but I opted to put a near new unit spare I had as it is a bit tedious to re and re.
I was resealing the front cover of the engine as it was weeping.
 
Alternator

I have 108k on my '04 RT when the Alternator light started to stay on intermittently (at start-up).
Removed the alternator (oh, what a fun job that is), and brushes were only slightly worn and the slip rings were cleaned up with emery cloth.

Took it over to a local alternator/starter shop and it tested out perfect on the bench, except the overdrive pulley was slipping so I replaced it with the old style unit.

Upgraded the voltage regulator with the higher output unit from Euromotoelectrics and all seems well.


RPGR90s
 
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