IDIBRONCO
IDIBRONCO
I put the 140 amp alternator in my watch list on Ebay. I just saw a message that the seller had an offer of $66.73 for the next 36 hours. I bought it so I guess I'll be putting it on the Ex Wife. Next to buy your listed pulley.
Quick Alternator Question 1988 7.3
- Thread starter HammerDown
- Start date
CBRF3
Full Access Member
congrats theyre really simple to put on like I said a cable from battery to alternator and a 1/2 ton lugnut behind the mounting ear for lower bolt very simple mod that is well worth it and it eleviates alot of the issues we have with our wiring and external voltage regulator and such.
IDIBRONCO
IDIBRONCO
I'm going to wait until tomorrow (payday) and order your linked pulley too.
HammerDown
Full Access Member
Whatta mean "all this headache"... I'm the original owner of my truck, it's never really given me any issues and NEVER left me on the side of the road.all this headache is why I suggest moving to a 1 wire GM self exciting delco alternator for $70 or less total ( can get these from salvage yards for $10 or so usually in working order these alternators are tanks and rarely ever fail ) ( can reuse the factory pulley from ford alternator ) and eliminate all the headaches of the external regulator and that rats nest of 30yr old wiring that usually has been hacked up by either previous owner or mice or whateverI live by the KISS theory ( keep it simple stupid ). The GM 1 wire alternator mod is very simple and cheap / reliable and well easily rebuilt by you if needed on side of road for like $25 in less than 1hr with minimal tools and back on the road again happy days
Oh and nearly every single auto parts store has the single wire GM alternator in stock 99.9% of time and for cheap the good old 10si / 12si alternator is a legend among construction industry / mining industry / hot rodders / racers / alternative energy industry and farmers for a reason theyre reliable and can be adapted to almost any vehicle/motor with ease and did I mention cheap and many use these in wind mill /hydro power and such they turn these into PMA alternators and use them for alternative power sources and much more.
The big problem for our motors is they dont make quality electronic components for them anymore according to most part manufacturers our engines are end of life and obsolete so the only factories making the electronics anymore are crappy quality and often 2nds and 3rds on the quality scale.This is why most electronics for almost any vehicle from autozone / advance auto parts are crap they buy 2nds and 3rds to get cheaper parts so it costs them less to stock them and they sell them for a premium.
basically tiering refers to quality control lvl as you go up in number the quality drops meaning theyre closer to failing or closer to being out of specifications Napa is mainly a tier 1 parts seller Oreily's auto parts is mainly a tier 1&2 and autozone / advance auto parts are mainly a tier 2&3 parts seller this means the cheaper price your paying is often for a much inferior part closer to failure second you buy it and often are bad when you buy them.
Trust me I had to argue with a customer over a starter took 6 starter swaps to get 1 good 1 ( it failed 1 month later ) I told him to have autozone test them before he brought them to me to install and he did not. I charged him labor for each and every time I had to install / remove the starter ( cadillac north star under the intake alot of labor ) needless to say he wasn't happy with me but he got what he asked for and paid for parts wise.
xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_mediato give you a idea how much of a pain it was I did this 6 times because of the customer argued with me and demanded I just put it in saying it was good. I even explained had to tear top of motor apart to change it and he didn't listen I said its a 2-3 hr process each time and he just couldn't understand it needless to say I never wanted to see him ever again I was furious and so was he.
The 20 year alternator I just replaced was under WARRANTY from Pep Boys... WHY THE HECK WOULDN'T I TAKE ANOTHER CHANCE ON A FREE WARRANTIED EXPENSIVE PART???
The 20 year OLD regulator I replaced back then is STILL good so I'm not experiencing all the issues you may have had with your "rats nest of 30yr old wiring that usually has been hacked up by either previous owner or mice or whatever"... so please, speak for yourself, we all don't own someone else's junk.
maybe, possibly out of the box I got a bad new regulator, maybe I'll purchase another or just keep the same 20 year old WORKING unit on it.
CBRF3
Full Access Member
you do realize that most of these trucks were used as work trucks and farm trucks so they tend to get beat up alot and rigged and not properly maintained so apparently you have one of the few that were cared for well which is not often the case I have 13 of these trucks currently and around 20 of these motors and have worked on these trucks and motors since I was very young and well let me tell you very few were treated as yours apparently was so you acting as if yours is the norm is very far from the norm so plz stop acting as if yours is the norm.
I myself have one like yours and it only has 70k miles and is a 4x4 4door centurion with sleeper model aka crew cab + extended cab and it was maintained with a fine tooth comb and kept all original outside of a few upgrades like intercooler / larger turbo / cam / larger injection pump and exhaust stacks.
The problem with the headache I refer to is once the wiring starts getting brittle from age and well wiring issues start popping up it often is the wiring around the voltage regulator that crumbles add to it the wiring insulation they used back then has a slight sweet smell to it that draws mice. The point is ford vehicles are well known about this in that area of time that insulation around where the fusible links are near the voltage regulator is known for mice and well that perfect shelf aka the plate where the voltage regulator sets is a place they like to set and chew and poop and *** ( which also does no favors for the wiring or regulator or plate which its mounted on ) along with the wiring for our glow plugs is another one they really like.
Last edited:
quickster
Full Access Member
Think I'm going to give this Delco alt a shot. One wire sounds good to me.
quickster
Full Access Member
I haven't looked at the videos yet, but that's pretty much it? One wire from the alternator to the battery? Seems like I'm forgetting something.
IDIBRONCO
IDIBRONCO
Nope. That's it with the one wire. I had a friend tell me that there's also a 3G one wire, but it's not nearly as cost effective as this 12si is.
CBRF3
Full Access Member
Glad could bring some good advice and options to the group quality has tanked on our OEM style alternators and voltage regulators and i moved to the 10si and 12si years ago due to being left on side of road many times over faulty replacement parts yeah they were under warranty but after swapping them 4 or so times and these were premium priced high end parts not the cheap auto zone crap I gave up and went back to the basics with the good old fiathfull / relaible / cheap 10si and 12si alternators.
IDIBRONCO
IDIBRONCO
I carry a spare alternator right now in the Blue Truck. I'll be doing the same thing with this style alternator in the Ex Wife. Thank you very much for the extra options.
quickster
Full Access Member
Do you install a fuse between the Alternator and the battery? Or is ok to run straight over.
IDIBRONCO
IDIBRONCO
I think that it's always a good idea to have some type of protection like that. Otherwise a direct short could lead to a fire.
CBRF3
Full Access Member
i put a 100-150 amp fuse inline usually use a inline fuse setup for professional car audio I dont like using the breakers for this.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J2RKXH...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CHWLFQ...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU= last one is one I like to use and I make a copper crush ferel out of 1/2 or 3/8 copper pipe and tighten it down on the wire to lock it in place without breaking any wire I also use 4 gauge copper welding cable make sure to avoid copper clad aluminum.
Last edited:
CBRF3
Full Access Member
I just realized that is a 10si delco 1 wire alternator in that link you had after i had been saying the 10si / 12si 1 wire is a good option that is very reliable and simple upgrade and cheap along with offering higher amps than we can easily get in our OEM style alternators options for our motors.
If you really want to go big, here is a 150A one...
Plain:
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...ernator/847141/6594808/1987/ford/f-250?pos=11
Black:
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...ternator/857140/6594810/1987/ford/f-250?pos=8
Chrome:
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...ternator/837140/6594804/1987/ford/f-250?pos=6
Plain but different external fan:
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...ernator/847140/6594807/1987/ford/f-250?pos=11
Last edited:
Similar threads
