Weldnator

[CrealCritter]

I'm finally happy with the wooden quad alternator bracket templates. I hope to be able to test fit them on my truck this weekend. If all goes well I'll cut them out of 1/4" aluminum. It's taken a long time because... well its summer and I've got lots of irons in the fire right now. So I can only work on the templates in short bursts at a time

Front template

Rear Template

 

[CrealCritter]

Another planned upgrade for my truck is an on-board air compressor. It's an interesting idea to also be able to use phnumatic tools right off the truck without having to plug into AC and drag a portable air compressor around. Ofcourse it would require yet another bracket to tie into the serpentine belt somehow.

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/york_compressor.shtml

 

[CrealCritter]

Finally got the quad alternator backet in 1/4" 6055-T6 aluminum (made in USA) and mounted on the veggie hauler. I used my woodworking router and a carbide straight bit to trace out the hardboard template and cut the aluminum. I had to trim about 1/4" off the end of the hardboard template in order to clear the fuse box. But other than that it was a great fit, after moving the computer forward about 6" and moving some ground wires around.

Here is what it looks like off the motor.

The last alternator I ordered came in with a 150 rectifier (50 amp diodes) I ordered a 250 amp alternator. So I sent it back for refund. I guess most people don't know much about electronics and can't tell the difference. But I'm not going to be one that you can pull a fast one on.

Mounted to the engine but short one alternator


Not much room left under the hood once all the pastic is back on the engine.

Still more to do... Install the last alternator, determine belt length, wire up an ignition run relay and more runs of 1/0 welding wire to the auxiliary battery. But at least the backet is cut and on the engine so that's a major milestone

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That's pretty cool!

 

[CrealCritter]

I must admit I doubted myself more than once if I could cram three AD244 large case auxiliary alternators under the hood of my 03 Chevy Silverado but I was able to do it. It's a heck of a tight fit but all three are mounted and I can even get to my power steering pump to check the fluid level which other quad alternator bracket kits seemed to ignore. Not being able to access your power steering pump is kind of an important miss :lol

Now I get to move to phase two determining belt length and wiring up the three alternators. Then hopefully I'll be able to produce a maxiumn of about 750 amps of DC current @ 14.4 volts or about 10,500 watts. I'm currently looking at a 5000 Watt Continuous/10000 Watt Peak Modified Sine Wave Power Inverter but still i'm shopping.

Picture of all 4 alternators bolted in. That small case AD130 alternator on left is the orginal alternator and looks out of sorts next to the large case alternators.

Illinois Custom 6055-T6 aluminum 6 spot 1/0 to 2/0 guage AWG battery terminals. These are some serious SAE battery terminals - you won't find these at the auto parts store.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

You did it - congrats!

 

[CrealCritter]

125" long belt, i admit, it was pretty intimidating when I first fired up the engine, a lot could go wrong. But nothing went wrong and it all ran as smooth as silk.

Mechanical work is finally done Next comes electrical, which I'm a lot more comfortable with.

 

[CrealCritter]

I couldn't help myself (I may have a high amerage aduction or something). But my alternator guy called me a few days ago said he just finished with a 250 amp AD244 reman and offered it to me for 1/2 price with lifetime warranty same as the new ones I bought from him - so I bought it. Now I have 1000 amps @14.4 volts DC of made in the USA potential under the hood. I also went with a made in USA Gates heavy duty belt.

You may notice a new smaller diameter idler pulley and addition of new bearings on the left side of the stock alternator posistion. I did that so I could use off the shelf 06~10 Ford F350 heavy duty belt, with a length of 125 5/8" (Gates K061251HD). So now my Chevy runs a Ford belt, I'm not sure I like that to much .

With the right inverter and a bank of 3 or 4 AGM batteries I should be able to power the house in case of an emergency power outage. Excpecially since I converted all the lights in the house to LEDs late last winter

BTW Dollar tree has LED bulbs for $1.00 each - I highly recommend them ---> https://www.dollartree.com/Sunbeam-Warm-White-9-Watt-Medium-Base-LED-light-Bulbs/p409433/index.pro

 

[CrealCritter]

Finally done - Yes! I finished up the remaining runs of 1/0 welding cable yesterday evening. Then I made up the wiring harness this afternoon - plugged it in and all 4 alternators are generating juice. I'm very happy... but it was a lot of work for sure.

The addition of three alternators made my truck radio amplifiers very happy. Now off to shop for a big 10k watt power inverter and a 12,000 lb winch - so the veggie hauler can also become a mobile power generator and log skidder.

 

[CrealCritter]

Ya'll like my redneck battery charger? With the truck radio off lead acid 12volt batteries go from completely dead to charged as much as they can be in a matter of 10 minutes This battery was completely dead and boy did the alternators complain about it to, they whined for a couple of minutes before they quieted down.

I think I'm going to make up a set of 1/0 guage welding wire jumper cables. Should come in handy for jump starting people's cars this winter. Maybe I'll stop being a nice guy and charge for jumpstarts.