Got my brother's old 130amp alternator and took it apart with intent to replace the bearings that were clearly jacked up. After removing the rotor+fan assembly I found that the rear of the shaft had been honed down to nothing, from all the vibration due to the back bearing. With a smaller shaft the rear bearing obviously doesn't serve any purpose.
So I'll be headed back to the junkyard tomorrow to find a swivel mount 130amp alternator from a Taurus, then I'll swap the guts into this side mount case and possibly throw some new bearings in her
SUCCESS!! Andy and I cruised down to the pick-n-pull. Pulled 3 alternators that looked good and chose the best of the three. The one I picked had VERY little wear on the rear shaft where the VR brushes touch it, awesome. Then I swapped a Motorcraft voltage regulator from another alternator that looked brand freakin new. The brushes barely have wear at all. The alternator looked brand new too but it had an autolite sticker on it
So the case is the wrong type but that's not a problem-- I'm swapping the guts of this alternator into the case that I got from my brother's truck.
Nearly new alternator + nearly new regulator = $25
The Motorcraft VR alone sells for $95 at the dealer