Just called and spoke to them and after a few moments of discussing my needs we decided that the 160 Amp would be a better fit for me. He was recommending the 140 since the truck did not have a big power draw from auxiliary equipment, but then he asked about pulling a trailer.

I told him I do have a 5th wheel trailer, he then said that I would benefit from the extra 20 Amps from the 160 alternator due to the extra draw from the trailer.

New 160 Amp alternator on the way. Should be a good match for the batteries and starter.

Easy day... I also still have money left over for beer, so all is good in GA.

EDIT: Updated first post to reflect the alternator purchase.

 

When I looked on my truck, both batteries have 2/0 grounds. This is where the juice flows from the batteries to the engine block.

The current goes into the starter (via ground) and returns back to the passenger side battery through the positive cables.

Out from the negative and return to the positive terminal. That is the way that batteries work.

The glow plugs also get the majority of their juice from the passenger side battery.

Out from the negative and return to the positive terminal.

This shows that the passenger side battery takes the abuse during start ups, more so than the drivers side.

There is a small 1 gauge cable that connects the positive terminal of the drivers side battery to the passenger side positive terminal. This is like a small straw that reduces the amount of draw allowed on the drivers side battery. By throttling the amount of return, it reduces the amount of draw that can flow out of the battery.

I think that Ford designed it this way because the drivers side battery is there for the trucks computer (mostly) and running the power in the cab. Just my theory.

BBD

 

Here's a picture of an alternator installed in a bracket to give you an idea of how the OEM alternator fits:


Here is a picture of the bracket and the general area of concern where you have to grind (I'm not sure how the earlier models are set up so YMMV):


The alternator comes with a bolt in the back of the case to attach a ground lead to the battery which Quickstart recommended I do. I bought a Lynx switch-to-starter cable to connect each one of my alternator cases to the battery (-) terminal. There are different lengths available and it looks like this:


The bracket is aluminum and is not hard to shape. I used a Pittsburgh (Harbor Freight) grinder with an old chipped wheel to do the job. Even though nobody would see it I still shaped it well and rounded the edges so it looked nice and professional as if it came that way from the factory (back to that OCD thing).

Depending on if/how you've modified your truck (intake, coolant filter, etc.) will depend on how you want to route the cable (if you decide to get one). Even with a fudge factor I had to get a longer one as the distance quickly adds up as you try to route it from the alternator safely to the (-) post of the battery.

Once I got the everything and set up shop with tools and parts and popped the hood to start the work here's how long it took me to install my alternators:

Upper (single) alternator: 2 hours
Lower alternator: 2 days (yes...days)

Most people would probably change their upper alternator in 30 minutes or so but I obsessed over the bracket shaping and ground cable routing more than most probably would.

 

Congrats. I think you will be very happy with your purchase.

 

Going to measure what I need tonight in regards to the additional ground cable. I see Tractor Supply sells the cables you mentioned, good news for me as I have one of those in my town.

 

I haven't followed your thread here religiously so forgive me if this has been mentioned before. I believe that heat can be a problem for the larger Denso starters due to their proximity to the exhaust manifold. You might want to protect it from heat one way or another. I know that I saw a procedure or two for doing so here but can't recall who did it but it was quite a while ago. I have one that I got rebuilt, I have not protected it but I should, when I got it rebuilt there was evidence of heat damage to it.

 

I think that was Y2K that shielded his starter from heat.

 

Stopped by a small, family owned starter and alternator rebuild shop at lunch today looking for a ground cable. The place was great. It was one of those shops that you would never know was there unless someone told you, and that is how I found it.

They had 2 guys in there, one was a family friend that had worked there 12 years and the other was the son of the business owner and had been there 30 years. They made me a 4 gauge black cable with ring connectors on it at 4 ft long for $15 total. I had a good time chatting with them, especially since the 12 year employee had a 2001 F350 7.3 sitting in the parking lot.

He mentioned they sell the cables to rewire the big cables (battery to battery and starter) and make everything there. I plan to take my OEM starter and alternator there to have rebuilt and put them on the shelf in the garage. I may sell them one day, but they will add to the garage decor in my opinion.

These guys had more starters and alternators sitting around ready to go than I could count. We discussed the additional ground cable from the case of the alternator and they were of the mindset that "I wouldn't hurt anything that is for sure", but they didn't see much use for it as the case was grounded to the mounting points anyway. I figured for $15 and in order to give them a bit of business, why not.

I walked out with a high quality cable made to my specifications and now have a great shop to take things to if I need their services.

 

How much are the other cables to the batteries and starter? You mitt of found an outlet to those who don't have access to them.

 

I believe he said ~$125, but I am not sure on that. I can call them and ask for specifics like gauge, terminals and etc if people are really interested. I wanted to hang around and chat, but had to get back to work.

 

Sous thank you. At least now it's out there. Would love to have mine go at the same time. My Interstates from Wyoming did, but all batteries since always go bad on the passenger side first.

 

Do the "Big 3" and unleash the full potential of your stock or high out put alternators.
This is on my wifes X with the 5.4





You need 2 grounds with 1/0 gauge wire one going from the - battery terminal going to the engine block and the other to the chassi and 1 1/0 gauge wire going straight to the alternator to the + battery terminal (note add a fuse to avoid a short if the wire does rub thru depending on your amp draw and output will determine what size amp fuse you will need) in our trucks same concept just add 2 more of everything to accomodate for the other battery.

 

I've never seen that wire gauge nomenclature... what is a 0/2 gauge wire? Is it 00 gauge, 2 gauge, 0 gauge with 2 conductors...?

 

Based only by the looks of it, I would assume that it is 00 which I have seen referenced as 2/0, but figured Adam was probably moving quickly, or at least thinking quickly when typing his post.

 

Correct, it is "00" cable/wire. The '2/0' nomenclature is the number zeros (e.g. 00). 1/0=0, 2/0=00, 3/0=000, etc. The terms are interchangeable when discussing the BFW (big freakin' wire) sizes.