Alternator? OR: How I wasted $300

[carringb]

Napa has welding lead in bulk, plus the necessary solder or crimp on lugs. Black lead is cheapest and weathers the best. I use heat shrink to mark the ends. Napa heat shrink is ok, better than other places. Fastenal has the best heat shrink (good adhesive, best shrink ratio, never cracks).

[jage]

Originally Posted by carringb

Napa has welding lead in bulk, plus the necessary solder or crimp on lugs.

Soldier lugs- do I need an industrial solder gun or something special to do these?

Also- today I learned that when you want to release the tension on the belt in the E350 vans with the 6.0L engine, you basically put a prybar next to the alternator pulley, resting it on the metal down and to the left. Pry the belt up until your bar touches the tubes and have a buddy flip the little lock on the tensioner from underneath (you can't see it from the bottom but you can reach up and feel it easily). Then the belt will be loose as the tensioner pully is locked in place.

I searched and never found this exact description although locking the tensioner is alluded to.

[rallypanam]

Originally Posted by jage

Soldier lugs- do I need an industrial solder gun or something special to do these?

Just use a regular torch.. like for plumbing or creme brulee or whatevever.

[E350]

jage: For another point of view on this subject see Scalff77's post here:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=14631

[Viejo]

If you do end up using the lead solder lugs, be sure to work with a box fan behind you. Breathing lead fumes won't make you any smarter.

[Sheriffdoug]

Originally Posted by daveb

What I went with:
http://www.nationsstarteralternator.com ... -s/518.htm

No problems so far

Hi Dave,
Did you have to upgrade wiring after installing new 270 amp Alternator?

[daveb]

Originally Posted by Sheriffdoug

Hi Dave,
Did you have to upgrade wiring after installing new 270 amp Alternator?

At first Doug... No. Mainly because I didn't add any load from what I've had all these years. It was a #8 str copper wire and at the time I didn't have larger wire with me or the correct lug. I did have to drill out the existing lug slightly so it would fit and wasn't real happy at that but there was no problems at all. The last time I was in there I did bump it up to 2 str CU and feel that is plenty. I'm not running any high loads for long periods and it's basically a short charge wire. The most I've ever seen on my amp gauge was about 80 amps due to a bad battery and the microwave pulls about 70A and I never had an issue. A lot of that load comes off the battery. Maybe if you were doing a lot of long term winching but even then I let things cool down. YMMV

[jage]

More wiring questions. I'm putting the winch I bought three years ago in, finally, so I will be running wiring for the winch (pos/neg) at the same time I'm (probably maybe) directly wiring the alternator to the batteries.

The thing is, the alternator was so hard to get out (3+hours) I want to get it right.

So, the question is, how long do I buy the wiring for the winch (2 lines) and how long for the alternator connection? I mean I get buying extra, but I'll buy 3' extra on top of the 3' extra I think I'll need after adding 3' and I'll wind up with 27' of wire bits if I do it myself...

I've got the alternator on order (https://www.dcpowerinc.com/fit/Ford~E-3 ... 70-xp.html) so I need to get my wiring, fuses etc lined up.

[prally]

Originally Posted by rallypanam

Just use a regular torch.. like for plumbing or creme brulee or whatevever.

Any of the people I consider friends would in fact use the same torch for this as cooking. Well stated, and crème brulee is one of my favorites!

[jage]

To wrap this up:

I paid a guy at Autozone to moonlight at $60 an hour to work on the van. That wound up costing me $300+ cash out of pocket as he took over 7 hours to tear it down and put it back together. I am no fan of taking it to a shop, an opinion which was supported by the fact that the last place cross threaded on of the rail bolts that hold the batteries on.

In any case, after pulling the alternator and finding out it was indeed bad, the guy when on cooldown for a few weeks while I adressed the frame rail nut/bolt and ordered the alternator. It didn't fit of course, as it interferes with the fuel line retainer clip and bolt on the surface of the mount (which daveb had mentioned).

So I sent the guy away again and I drilled out the alternator mount instead of using the supplied hardware to space out the alternator. The problem with the hardware was it was over 1/2" spacers (closer to 3/4") which would have left me with 1/4 of threads in each mounting point! The guy came back and my drilling had cleared the bolt so he put it all back together and I sent him on his way.

So I got the alternator I wanted installed the way I wanted it, good huh?

It was until the first 1/8 mile out of town when I hit the throttle to bring it up to 55... POP!@ SSSSSSS-WHHHHHH!

The throttle tube had popped off and a quick inspection revealed that 1) not a single bolt was tightened 2) there was not enough room for my hands to put the tube back on.

I limped into Castle Rock to my usual diesel place (not the ones who had fubar'd the battery bolt) and they gave me a ride home. $175 and a day later I rolled out with a new turbo boot, the knowledge that the boots never go back on once they slip off hot, and everything tightened up and put back properly- like the oil filter tube that was pretty jacked. The first guy swears he tightened everything, but I could see bolts that were not even finger tight when I actually looked.

The icing on the cake? The diesel guy said he'd have put in the alternator for $170 in the first place. Lesson learned.

Here is the drilled mount on the alternator.