I have a 2000 f350 with of course the 7.3. I have replaced a starter on this truck every 2 to 3 yrs since new. I last year purchased the heaviest duty one I could plus my friend who owns a stsrter/altinator shop did a lot of upgrades. It spins over like it's starting a plane. Yesteray wife.and I had a lot of places to go and since her car was in the shop we drove mine. Now I have the 2 640 volt batteries in the front and a very heavy duty one in the rear with a welding lead wire used to carry the post I've current. I have all 3 because I run a 20,000 lb winch in the front and a 15,000 in the rear. I also have a light bar with a total of 300 led lights and 2 lights off of my backhoe mounted below the headlights so I can use then legally.I also have 4 very bright backup lights that I use to back up and in hooking up trailers at night. Now everything I ren, I run a heavy duty relay with very heavy gauge wire. I have all these lights because I was wounded with a shot to the head in combat and I'm blind in one eye. My altinator is showing 0% on testing it and with the truck off, I'm showing 12.4 amps. With the truck running I'm showing 11.8. My question is, should I get a very heavy duty altinator? I do not want to run dual's because of the cross over problems. My buddy is out of the country with relatives so I can't ask him. What are y'alls opinions. P.s. I have a 5 amp battery maintainer I hook up each night and it does have a shut off and trickle charge. Thanks yall, Brian Davis

 

With all the stuff on the truck, I wouldn't mess around. Just get a huge alt, something in the 250+A range.

Pick out the alt you like here:
https://www.dcpowerinc.com/fit/Ford~...16-250-xp.html
https://www.dcpowerinc.com/high-outp...rstroke+Diesel

Then call this guy here to see if can order it:
http://www.ficmrepair.com/
He does a lot of DC Power stuff for the 6.0L and can usually beat direct purchase for shipment time.

 

Thank you for the info. I found 1.I'm looking at. It's a 250 a.p at 1200 rpm, but it $649.00. I'll check out your contact and see what he says. Thanks again , Brian

 

You earlier said that you "don't want to run duals because of the cross over problems."

What did you mean by that? What kind of "cross over" problems have you found or heard about with dual alternators?

 

My truck is an ambulance chassis which means it has the mount for dual alternators. It actually had 2 on it when new but the man who initially purchased it had problems with the dual set up competing with each other and causing charging problems. He had them removed and a single high output put in it's place. From a friend of mine that owned a starter and alternator shop has explained how a dual set up can cause problems if the winches,lights ect are not set up properly causing the altenator's to kinda battle with each other. I'm not very knowledgeable in this subject and am only quoting what he has said as well as what I have found while researching my best options. If I am wrong in this, please explain so I'll know better what to do. I need to order a unit tomorrow and right now I'm looking at a 250hd unit that puts out 250 amps at hot idle and 150 at idle. It cost $589.00 but looks to be my best option right now. If you have info, please share it with me, as I said ,I'm only quoting what others with more knowledge have said to me. Thank you for the response, Brian

 

I have dual alternators, as equipped from the factory, and I've never had a lick of trouble with either one of them for the last 15 years.

The Ford service manual informs me that there is strategy in my PCM calibration that monitors and controls the dual alternator relationship and performance.

Some people change PCMs, or reflash their PCMs, or put chips on their PCMs, in the hopes of gaining more exhilarating engine acceleration. I often wonder what effect these replacement PCMs and calibrations have, if any, if they are not originated from a family of calibrations that was equipped with dual alternators. I really don't know the answer to this question, but I have wondered. Sometimes, tuners base their calibrations on PMT2 (may not be an accurate catch code, but is cited for illustration purposes only). If PMT2 was not originally written by Ford for dual alternators, then how does that tune handle managing the dual alternators? I just don't know.

I run the original stock calibration, and have run a Warn 15,000 lbs winch on batteries alone, run six work lights off the back of the truck on battery alone, and have all the original battery and alternator wiring. The original dual alternators have been trouble free for 15 years so far.

Still, I'm always seeking new information to be ahead of the curve on problems, which is why I asked you the question. Yours was the first report that I ever heard of concerning any issue with dual alternators.