[billsheila]

Thanks for the replies guys. I spoke to Don Nieser and for $250 he will exchange the swivel. He says they can be difficult to do, but his shop seems to have it figured out. So now the only questions is whether to see if my mechanic wants to try to tackle it or simple buy it from Don. I was considering doing both, because I likely have the same age (46 year old) seals in both of them, so it would seem like the time to do them.

Re the alternator issue, I am getting more confused the more information I get. So please forgive the long drawn out additional questions:
1) The alternator was working before the annual. The issue is an apparent oil leak. A&P thinks it is a seal. I looked up an old (more on that later) exploded view of the ALM5103 alternator...I don't see a seal. Any ideas on the oil leak theory?
2) The accessory repair shops I call are all claiming "no go" on the ALM5103 alternator, they say "obsolete" can't get repair parts any longer. One shop told me it is superceded only by a contintental part number TCM #633962, which is a 38 AMP alternator.
3) Re point #2 above, does this mean I have to buy a new alternator from Continental as the only fix here. I have read the story on the drive couplings and am told to avoid the "new and improved" version that fail easily and are hugely expensive (Cessna Pilots Association have a tech bulletin on that). I am wondering if I do have to buy new from TCM for the alternator if I can still use the older style drive coupling?
4) Lastly, as a pretty high wear item, I am thinking that others must have run into this in the recent past with a bad alternator so am writing to see if other members have any suggestions on this alternator situation.

Many thanks
Bill