Technically, maybe... I have attempted (and done) this before on various things (mostly motors). There are some issues: First of all there seem to be about 500 different brush sizes. Even if your local supplier has multiple brushes to pick from, you will likely find they don't have quite what you need. So you can look on the internet, but even if you can find them they are usually fairly expensive, and the regulators don't cost that much more. Finally, depending on how the regulator was manufactured, even if you have the brushes it may not be possible to install them. However, you might search around online and see if anyone has ever done it. Good luck.

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

Just pop in a new VR. easy fix.

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1987 300E

Thanks! I'm sure I'll be back charging again soon! ;-)

Larry

Thanks Mpolli - I think I'll take the easy way out and do as Rob300SD suggested - it doesn't sound like it's worth the time, expense or effort to try to replace just the brushes.

I have a used alternator I recently obtained that I'm going to swap out and see how it does. I was getting everything ready to make the change when I discovered not all of the 4 hold down bolts are in place. They are inverted E Heads bolts I'll probably have to get from the dealer. It may work as it is, but I think the MB engineers must have had a reason for designing it the way they did.
I'm wondering if this is a common installation technique?

Thanks gang -