Toyota Repair: Toyota Alternator, brake warning light, toyota 4x4

Question
Hi,
I have a 1991 Toyota 4x4 and recently, the battery and brake warning light have come on.  This means that the alternator is not charging correctly.  So I figured it has a stuck brush, so I hit the alternator a couple of times with a hammer and the lights went away for about a month.  Then they came back and everytime I just hit the alternator again, and I had to do it more and more often.  Now I can't get the warning lights to go off by hitting the alternator.  Is there anything else I can do to address this problem short of putting a new alternator in.  I'm pretty sure if the alternator was completely broken, I would run out of juice really fast, but I can still drive it, I'm just worried that it may die at anytime.  From what I gather, the alternator just isn't giving the battery a full 12V charge.  Is there an easy way to fix a stuck brush.

Thanks

Jeremiah Jazdzewski

Answer
The brushes are not stuck they are worn out, you can get the brushes from the toyota dealer and disassemble the alternator and replace them or you may opt to just replace the entire alternator with a remanufactured one from either the dealer or an aftermarket source like autozone,pep boys etc.