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I had the opportunity to change out a set of brushes in the alternator on my current 240 project this morning. I have always used the Volvo brush set (#1362710) that is available from the dealers for about $4.00 (if you shop around). In my last order to FCP Groton I noticed they had a set of alternator brushes for $3.00 so I thought I would give them a try.
My first observation on this new brush set was that the brushes themselves were somewhat shorter than the OEM. They also did not have solid copper leads that make the OEM easy to thread through the holder. They simply had the braided wire attached to the brushes and it was too short to thread through the holder even if they had had enough rigidy to do so (which they did not). I had to solder a very small diameter wire to each brush to thread the new brushes into place. The OEM brushes come with new springs in place and in fact could not be easier to install. The new brush set did not have springs included and those springs are easy to lose. I managed to do that this morning. Luckily I had a set of OEM brushes on the shelf and was able to use one of the springs from that set.
All in all it just wasn't worth it to save a dollar. I have a decent amount of soldering experience and I found these brushes to be a real hassle. If someone was using these for their first brush replacement exercise they might be inclined to throw in the towel.
I appreciate the good prices and fast service I receive from FCP Groton, but like all suppliers I find that some of the things they have to offer are not worth the "savings".
Randy
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