I recently took my 1951 Suburban on a 300 mile trip to the beach and back. On the way down, the generator started making a lot of noise. I've kept up with the lubrication over the years but have never overhauled it.
I had tools with me and pulled it out so I could check it over.
Here is my "work bench":
My workbench Tools and "tool box" Random beach picture with ballast stones from a shipwreck. As it turns out, the rear bushing was totally shot, the front bearing was suspect and the brushes were in serious need of replacement. The cause of this mayhem was that the small plate pressed into the oil reservoir for the bushing had come loose, no doubt many years ago, and the bushing received no lubrication.
Here is a picture of the rear frame of the generator with the oil reservoir, plate and bushing. There is a wick that goes from the resovoir to the bushing.
Generator end frame. I was able to purchase a new bushing and brushes from a local CarQuest and make a repair that got me back to Raleigh. The bushing was close to right but slightly over sized, and it did not have the hole in the right place so that I could reinsert the lubricating wick. I was also unable to get the front nut off the pulley with the tools I had, so I could not replace the front bearing.
After I returned to Raleigh, I decided to tear down the generator again, replace all the bad parts and document the process as I went along. I contacted Kenneth at Classic Generator who sent me a rebuild kit and also gave me some great tips about the rebuild process. He is a great guy, and I highly recommend his products.
Anyway, on with the show. Here is a picture of the generator. It is a pretty run of the mill Delco Remy. This particular one came with my 235 engine, which was from a 1953 Chevy. This was the first year without the removable commutator band.
Before picture First this was to remove the pulley nut. Easy to do with an impact wrench. Hard to do otherwise.
Removing pulley nut. After removing the pulley nut, the pulley can be removed by holding the generator up in the air by the pulley, and tapping on the end of the shaft with a brass hammer. After removing the pulley, remove the shaft key by tapping one end of it down until the other end comes up enough to pry it out.
Then remove the two long bolts that connect the two end frames together. They run from the rear frame that has the bushing and screw into the front frame that has the pulley. At this point the whole generator will come apart, and you will have the two end frames, the armature and the body of the generator on your bench.
End of rear frame with two bolts And because I'm a dummy, I didn't take a picture of the whole thing apart. But here is a schematic as provided by Classic Generator.
Parts Schematic. I did not remove the field coils and some other little bits, but I did clean the whole thing up.
First task was to get the bushing out of the end frame. The bushing is in a blind hole, and if you have a blind hole bushing puller, you can get it out easy-peasy. Not having one of those, I ran a tap into the bushing, and then used a bolt a nut to draw it out, and then used a wrench sliding up the bolt and hitting the head as a "slap" hammer.
Running tap into bushing. Pulling bushing using bolt and nut. Next task was to cut a slot in the bushing so that the wick from the oil gallery would lubricate the shaft. The wick hole is angled in the bore, so I measured the angle and marked it on the bushing. Then I used a rat tail file to cut the slot.
Marking bushing. Filing groove in bushing Finished groove. Then I pressed the bushing in and ran the wick up from the oil gallery through the groove. I have an old lab press, but you really could just tap it in with a hammer.
Pressing in bushing. New wick in place. Next I pressed the cover into the oil gallery. Since it had come apart before. I put a little JB Weld on it.
Next step was to clean up the commutator on the armature. It was pretty grooved and rough. I mounted in the vice and cleaned it up with emery cloth. Started with 220 and finished with 400.
Cleaning up commutator Ready to go! Next I dissembled the front end frame and removed the old bearing and felt retainer and felt. The new bearing is a sealed bearing, and hopefully will need no lubrication. I guess because it was a sealed bearing there was no gasket in the kit to go between the bearing retainer and the frame, but I cut one anyway.
New bearing, gasket and retainer in frame. After installing the bearing, I put the armature through the frame, installed the spacer and shaft key, and put the pulley on.
Armature/frame/pulley assembly. Next step is to install the new brushes and terminals in the body,and then set the body over the armature. The brushes will lock all the way back, so that they are held open as you put the body on. You can then release them by holding the spring arm back. I put a little grease on the shaft in preparation for the back frame/bushing.
New brushes. Final assembly step was to put the rear frame back on with the two long bolts.
Here is the finished generator. I also took the opportunity to paint the body.
Completed generator. Don't forget to polarize the generator after you put it back in the truck!
Polarizing generator at the regulator. Yours truly. OK, well that's about it.
Enjoy.
Kurt
