Hi Tony. Just trying to help here.
What did your man make the bushes from?
The reason why I ask is that usually generator rear bearings (bush type) are made from "sintered" bronze. sintered means something like lots of little balls of bronze all pushed together. One brand name I know of was "oilite" So before you install the bush into the end plate assembly, you would soak the bush in engine oil for a few hours first. The other way to do this was to:
1. sit the bush on your thumb. 2. fill the bush with oil. 3. bring your finger down on the other end and squeeze. The oil will immediately run out down the outside of the bush.
Is there an oil wick in the end of your housing? Sometimes there is a piece of felt (oil reservoir) at the end of the hole with just a small orifice to poke an oil can into, and sometimes there is an oiler with a cap and a short small piece of felt in it. The thing is that ordinary bronze wont get enough lube, it will quickly run dry and in Kiwi / Australian parlance it will "bugger" the bearing end of the armature. One thing that will make a big difference here will be how tight you make the belts. Back in the day it was important to have so much movement in the belt so as not to load up the generator bush. Now days every thing has a ball bearing at the back and so belts can be much tighter.
Another aspect is that you shouldn't "over oil" because you don't want oil getting on the brushes and commutator. This causes other problems.
If your bushes happen to be solid bronze , you are going to have to oil a little and often.
To go further, if the bush cuts out, the armature starts "polling" (hitting the pole shoes. This then causes the armature and or the regulator to burn out.
I am sorry to have to tell you this now that you've gone to all the trouble. I just hope you've employed the correct material and that I'm jumping to conclusions.
