like the title of this thread says my alternator died. if anyone has an alternator for an 87 740 gle please let me know. you can call me at 797-3684.

I have one hanging off the side of the motor on my floor that I'm not using at the moment. I think I pulled it off an '80s 740 back in the day, it should be an 80 amp'er. Not sure what the going rate on alternators is these days, did you price out a rebuilt?

Actually i went through my repair manual and it recommended checking the brushes so i pulled them out and there was about 2mm left of each brush and the repair manual recommended 5mm so that was the issue. i phoned around to a couple auto supply stores this morning and found a regulator with brushes in a store off MacLeod trail called Wilson's. it was the only place that i talked to that had the piece so i borrowed my dads truck and made the hike which was, as you can imagine not to much fun this morning, and got the part. I got home installed it and now my alternator is charging my battery at a happy 14.4 volts. So now i'm happy and my car is happy.

good! i was going to mention that. I keep a spare set of brushes/regulator handy just in case. how much did it cost? This is a good item to grab from the JY if you don't have a spare as the last time I priced a new one it was over $60.

And IIRC, Athal, you actually needed them on one trip.

Be thankful you've got a 740, Doug, and not anything else. 240s are tough enough to get to, the V6 in my 780 is dang near impossible, and the 850? Fuggetaboutit.

it actually only cost me $15.76 to get a set of brushes brand new. im not sure where you were looking Athal but $60 is a little ridiculous sounding

$60 (or $80, or whatever it was) was for the whole brush/regulator assembly. I wasn't aware you could replace the brushes alone!

And yes, one trip to the coast with 2 other pals in my old 242, the alternator died. Thanks to the voltage gauge I had warning and pulled off at the chilliwack pick-a-part (just in case). jacked the car up (no jackstands, shhh) and carefully wiggled my way to change the regulator- ten minutes later back on the road to the amazement of my travel mates.

Yeah, well, so did I (need brushes) and I didn't have any tools. I had a cell phone, and I know a courier who was willing to come to Lake Louise...

yeah, mine has done the same to me.

Ah, the stories.

Was heading down Highway 2 Saturday morning at 5am (in the Jeep though) and just North of Red Deer the alternator showed systoms of dying; voltmeter jumping, heater dying, radio dying etc. JUST about rolled into the Canadian Tire parking lot with hardly any lights other than all the warning lights on the dash dimly lit. That was a long, cold and boring wait in Tim Hortons until 8am. Was back on the road for 10am thanks to Canadian Tire, but out of pocket $400; what a start to a weekend away in Banff. Or maybe it's karma; buy a bloody Volvo!

Actually Athal the $15.76 was for the brushes and regulator. who ever tried to charge you 60 bucks was ripping you off.

It's about 36.00 bucks for a bosch,good luck with a wilson i won't stock that crap.
Buy an extra your going to need it in about 60 days.