I've had this alternator laying around the shop for some years now, I recall taking it off my '92 Wing and replacing it with a Compufire. Didn't recall why but figured it was most likely due to the extra load placed on it when towing our trailer, the battery would get pretty run down....especially in traffic and I sure know how that feels on a personal level. Doing some limited housekeeping last week I decided to address the alternator issue....either it's worth saving or it isn't. There's a well known shop just a couple miles away that has a good rep so decided to have it checked out for me. Turned out it was putting out just fine but had major bearing noise....aha....now I remember why I changed it. He quoted me $105 to go through it and I gave him the go-ahead....it was done that afternoon. Strangely enough, soon as he saw it when I first walked in he knew it came off the Honda flat six motor. When I picked it up, I asked what all was done to it; cleaned, new brushes(old ones less than 50% worn), all wiring checked and replaced if necessary, new bearings, then tested for output with/without load. He also explained something about their testing...seems they test for specific length of time under different loads, I didn't understand it all so just smiled and shook my head at what seemed like an appropriate moment.
For $105, I now have a spare alternator for a lot less than buying a new one, and I can keep it wrapped up and not banging around loosely all over the shop.
Which now begs the question; why didn't I do this 10-15 yrs. ago. Sometimes the motto "never do today what you can put off until tomorrow" comes to mind.
