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Why not troubleshoot first. You can determine if it is the Alternator or Volt. regulator by bypassing the voltage reg. The V/R supplies batt. voltage to the Field terminal (or Excite terminal) You shut eng. off. Disconnect the FLD. or EXC. wire from the back of the alternator. Put piece of tape over the wire end. You will be supplying batt. voltage to the FLD. terminal on the back of the Alternator with a jumper wire with alligator clips on the ends. You connect from the BAT. post terminal on the back of the Alternator to the FLD. spade terminal on the back of the Alternator. [DO NOT] have any accessories on as the voltage output of the Alternator (if working) will NOT be regulated, and if you rev. up the engine you will see that the un-regulated voltage can climb to 20-25 volts and higher very easily.
I usually start the eng. first, and let idle, then connect the jumper to the FLD. Terminal FIRST, and then touch the other end of the jumper to the BATT. term. If your Bat. is low, then there will be a spark when you touch the terminal, because it should immediately start to charge the Batt. BTW, don't allow your jumper lead to touch ANY ground surface. Look at your Digital Volt Meter and look for about 13.0 to 15.2. If you don't see that, then carefully rev. up the engine to 1000-1300 rpm and look at the V.O.M. If it doesn't charge then, the Alternator is not putting out. But it then could simply be the brushes, as others here have mentioned, so shut off eng. disconnect the jumper and pull the brush holder.
If however, it did put out 13v. minimum, then you now know it is the Voltage Regulator that is the culprit and you feel better about buying one, right ? Or you could at this point, buy a new brush holder that has the built-in V.Regulator and just tape up the old wires. HTH, Tom
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