1973 F250 with a 390FE. I am trying to see what width of alternator you guys have installed? I am trying to go to a 1 wire, and it looks like Power master has one that is a total width of 6.25". I bought one from Oreilly Auto parts (Ultima) and I am seeing what everyone is running for shipment wise.

 

Sorry you seem to be stuck with me for the moment. I just went out and measured the depth of a couple of different units I have and from different spots. I was going to run over to the local parts store and grab one out of the box, but decided that was too much work for the situation.

1. On my '79 the Large-Case 105a 1G alternator is roughly 6.25" depth from back of bearing to front of single V-belt pulley.
I also measured from the cylinder head where the alternator bolt and spacer are, to the outer edge where the alternator mounting bracket is. This is roughly 5.25 inches.

2. On my '93 the small-case 95a 3G model is roughly 6.25" from back bearing to front edge of the serpentine pulley. No depth of mount in this case, because the mounting scheme is completely different and would not apply to yours.

3. As mentioned in your other thread, the stated dimensions of a Large-Case 130a 3G is also 6.25" from front of pulley to back of alternator.

By now we should be sensing a theme here. You've been given these same, or similar dimensions now in three separate threads of yours if I remember correctly. Sorry others are not chiming in to confirm, but my numbers represent 99% of the installed alternators of members on this and other forums, so should be indicative of what you can expect.
I think the important dimension is with that first 1G alternator I mentioned. At 5.25 inches from cylinder head to front face of bolting flange (face of the alternator basically) I still have a good 1/2 inch of air gap between the back of the alternator and the cylinder head. And I'm pretty sure this is typical.

The only thing that is not consistent between your engine and mine, is that one of mine is a Windsor and the other is a 335-series engine. Yours is an FE, but as far as I know Ford NEVER changed the alternator sizing (depth-wise) between the mid-sixties and the mid-nineties.
They only used one size alternator (again, depth-wise) for any given year during that time. They did change the overall width/diameter of some between large and small units, but the depth between the cylinder head and the mounting brackets and pulleys remained extremely consistent.

So there's the latest at least, if not the greatest. I do not have easy access to an un-mounted early 3G (which is the one I think you really want to know about) that I can put calipers on.
But for almost any circumstance, this is more than enough information. To turn this around then, what about you giving us a measurement of your existing setup so we know how unusual (or not) your alternator mounting configuration really is.
You did post up some decent pictures a couple of weeks ago, but can you also give us an exact measurement of what you're having to deal with?

Thanks

Paul

 

And I forgot to ask, and don't believe you ever said in your first 1-wire thread, but what is the depth of the first 1-wire unit you bought that did not work?
I know you said it did not fit and was too close to the cylinder head I believe(?) but I don't remember an exact dimension.

Paul

 

So got the alternator installed that fits!!! Woo hoo! Now general question. How can i get rid of the old wiring/regulator to clean up the engine bay?

 

Great news! But you really do like to tease us, don't you! How'z about some pics?
Which one did you go with by the way?

As for wiring, have you already wired up the new one? Is it a 1-wire, or normal internally regulated unit?
If it's all done and ready to go, then you don't need 99% of the old wires in question. This is where some remove too much though, so let's keep the cutting to a minimum for now.
What you have to watch out for is cutting off old connectors that might have other, non-regulator wiring in it along with the stuff you want to remove.

First you might have to un-wrap some of the harness tape to do this cleanly, but that depends on your truck. Remove the regulator, unplug it and toss it in the bin. Or like I do, in a box to be used in case something happens and you change back!
The Orange field wire can just be removed from the harness entirely between the regulator and alternator.

The Green w/red wire can be capped off and taped/tied out of the way. I like to keep them for later, in case you ever need a keyed power source for some other accessory. Lots of people remove this and then need it later.
To cap it you can just cut it and put shrink tubing over it, but I like to put an insulated barrel type crimp connector on it, then the shrink tubing.

The Yellow wire is hot all the time, so you can either do the same thing you did with the green wire, or you can follow it up into the harness and cut it near the junction and then re-tape it up to keep it from touching anything else.

The original Black wire (could be Black w/yellow stripe) from the BAT terminal on the alternator to the battery side of the starter relay should be removed, but again, it depends on the alternator you bought. Is it a 70amp or less unit? If so you can keep that wire and use it for charging. It's already protected by a fusible link.
If it's a more powerful alternator, you remove the Black w/yellow wire and replace it with the appropriate gauge wire and a fuse to protect it.
If you let us know which alternator you got we can give you a reasonable recommendation.
Because you said it fits, did you already start the engine and verify it's working? Or is that yet to come?

Glad it's all fitted up. I know this simple thing gave you fits, but you're on the way now.

Paul

 

I'm not sure which one to be exact to be honest. But here are some pics! All of the previous wiring was done by the previous owner. SO I am just trying to clean it up 1 by 1. But yeah the clearance is just right on this alternator. I am just unsure what all I can remove. I know I had a amp gauge installed in the truck just above the hump where the transmission is. So I know that gauge is not accurate, and should get a volt gauge which I am going to try and figure out all together. Any words of wisdom will be great! As you can tell, I am a newbie!

 

Also, it does work! Idling at 14.58 volts

 

Nice.
And that is a 3G alternator. Can't tell which one, but there's an easy way to tell if we can see it from a little more of a front angle.
Did whoever you bought it from say what it was? There is a bit of webbing just barely visible in either pic of the alternator, where there are either two round holes in-line, or four round holes in a square. The one with four holes is a 95a model and the one with 2 holes is a 135a model.
I only see what looks like two holes, but they are just out of the sight line so there could be two more. It's just a curiosity on my part, as either way you're going to need to upgrade your charge wire even though it's just a short one.

Is it a 1-wire? I only see the one Red wire that looks like the main charge wire (10ga likely?) and the White w/black wire plugged into the side of the alternator, and what looks to be a short Red wire jumpering the output terminal to the Yellow w/white sensing wire. Is that correct?

I don't see an image of the voltage regulator in your pics. That one box next to the starter relay is the horn relay. Your regulator is probably just in front of that, next to the battery either on the fender apron or the radiator core support next to the radiator.
On later trucks it moved rearward, so it was several inches behind the starter relay, still on the inner fender apron.
We'll need to find that, and follow the wires to know which ones to remove for sure.

But at this point, the bundle you have in your hand can go away completely. So follow it up into the harness and unwrap the harness tape if you need to. The Orange one at least will run all the way to the regulator where you can see the other wires you need to deal with.
How many wires does your new alternator have connected to the truck? Just the one Red wire we can see, or are there more? How many wires in the 3-wire connector plugged into the side of the alternator? What part number is the alternator and from who?
I know these are still a lot of questions, but take them one at a time and answer them to shed some more light on the subject for us please.

If the Red wire is your BAT wire to the main stud on the alternator, you need a larger wire. In a pinch, and if you were on your way out on a long trip in a few hours and did not have time to change the wire, I would add a second 10ga wire to the first so that each one works half as hard.
The dangerous thing about leaving it that way is that if one ever becomes compromised then all the load goes back through just the one wire. Ok for a little bit maybe, but still a problem waiting to happen.
Yes, it looks like a 10ga wire, and yes it is short. But even Ford uses 6ga wire there nowadays! The larger wire is just overkill for two reasons. One to keep the wire from getting warm when it's being asked to work hard, which builds resistance, which lowers the available voltage to your accessories. And two (related to the first) is safety factor. You don't have a fuse, or a fusible link anymore with that new wire, and you don't want a melt-down in your corner there. So my recommendation is to do whatever you can to increase it's size.
Buy a pre-made charge cable, or simply add a larger wire yourself (8ga is great, but 6 is just enough overkill), or whatever. But add some capacity as soon as you can.

Then let us see a view of the voltage regulator.
Don't be afraid of removing some tape from the existing wires either. To do it right sometimes you just have to mess up the original a little bit before you put it back together. once it's re-wrapped, a small zip-tie at the end can hold the tape in place for years to come.

Paul

 

Oh, and in all this discussion over the last few weeks, all of our questioning sidetracked us from one of the other issues that can crop up with this type of setup. And that is belt squeal.
Because this alternator is capable of putting out some juice, and often has greater resistance to spinning (inertial to overcome) when you first start up the engine, especially on a cold wet morning, the belt can squeal like a big dog for a few seconds to a few minutes depending on how much charge the battery needs.

Lots of people (the lucky ones) do not have this issue. But still lots of discussions about those that do, and ways to fix it.
With our older trucks with the multi groove pulleys of different sizes, the easiest solution is to use a larger pulley with a deeper groove. Gives it more grip on the belt.
You can tighten up the belt too of course, but you can only do so much good that way and eventually it will wear out the bearings.

Good luck. Hopefully you're one of the lucky ones and won't have to deal with it.

Paul

 

It is a 95 amp alternator! Yeah it's a 1 wire. Just have that 1 10 gauge wire which I was told to get, from the post on the back of the alternator, to the starter solenoid. Yeah he has those couple wires going to the regulator on the back. The voltage regulator is against the frame towards the front. I was told to get the 10 gauge by a few people and they said it was enough.

 

And it probably is I suppose. Like I said, I'm into overkill sometimes...
In a situation where the 10ga wire is only 10 or 12 inches long, it's got plenty of capacity for a short term exposure to higher current flow. Let's just hope that's the case for the entire life of the alternator.
My reasoning for having recommended the larger wire/cable before, is not in small part to the fact that ever since Ford had their frequent meltdown miles with the previous generation to yours (2G alternators) they've been using 6ga battery cable size conductors as their charge wires. And they don't spend that kind of money without reason.

You can remove the regulator completely, and the wires as far as they are convenient to reach. You just don't necessarily want to cut or disconnect other wires that they might be attached to.
For example, you can cut the Green w/red wire I mentioned before, but you can't easily follow it to it's source because it runs all the way to the ignition switch through the harness. So might as well just cut it where it's convenient.

The Yellow wire can be cut as far back as you can reach it where it connects to other wires. But don't cut those other wires. If yours happens to run all the way to the starter relay post with the battery cable, yes you can simply remove it from the relay to clean things up.
Just remember to watch out, because the Yellow wire that powers the horn relay is right there too, at the starter relay.
The Orange wire as described can be removed completely.
You don't have a White w/black stator wire, so nothing to see there.

The old Black w/yellow wire could actually be re-used then, because it's already a nice 10ga wire. If it's still in good shape you could use it. Otherwise, if you want to keep the new Red wire instead, just remove the old Black wire along with it's connector.
You might find some other wires connected to it though. If so, let us know what they are and we can tell you whether to keep them or toss them.

Paul