alt issues with 12v plow working

[wiccantoy]

ok have been on the phone with another forum member and he said comeing back here may be the best bet. here is the info i can offer. truck m1009 30k miles. new belts, new 12v battery, alts are tested to show while running 12v showing front batt 14.4 rear 28.90 top bus bar 28.20. but when i use my 8ft western plow with lights on turn to left or right and the power drops bad. a couple times ive gotten the red alt light. and heater slows bad. when im having an employee drive for me at 20 bucks an hour i cant alow him to get cold and beat the truck due to stress.

also there are times i hear a click under the dash possably on the left side and you have to rev it to get the volt meter to get to the green or atleat close to it.

any good info would be great. and thank you in advance

 

[Warthog]

Sounds like it's time to rebuild GEN1. Just because it is showing that it is charging doesn't mean that it is functioning properly.

Take it out and have it tested.

 

[doghead]

What size(front) battery do you have? What's it's condition?

Are your electric plow wires directly connected to the battery terminals? (pos and neg)

Is your D/S alt freshly rebuilt?

Is your engine grounded properly?

 

[Westech]

I have a 6.5 western on my 1995 S-10 blazer with only a 550 CCA battery and yes when I lift the plow or side to side the lights dim and heater slows a bit but who cares...I have plowed for over 5 hours at a time. It works and has never failed. If your alternator and battery are good it will be fine. You can run 10 batteries and the same thing will happen. As long as you have the main plow wires hooked up correctly and the connections are clean you will be fine.

Trick is.. start your truck.. let it idle for 5 min and get warmed up and top off the battery... do your plowing.... and before shut down let it sit for 5 min and cool off and top off the battery again. If you do that you wont have a problem.

 

[wiccantoy]

ok doghead battery is 800 cca and is 2 weeks old that made a huge difference with the salt spreader.

westech its no problem if things dim but sometimes it wont lift fast enough to protect the blade in bad area's of ripped up concrete.

warthog im thinking the same

but what would be the click i hear. if i could get a higher power alt i have no doubt it would be that much better. **** my f 450 has a upgraded 250 amp alt and i dont plow with it. if i knew how to i have a leese neville alt off a 350 v8 fire truck.

 

[Westech]

you dont need a isolated grounded case on the driver side.. that is your 12V charging alternator... it is already rated at 100 AMPS.. if you want to go to a higher rated alt its no problem.. just install a large GM case alternator.

 

[wiccantoy]

you dont need a isolated grounded case on the driver side.. that is your 12V charging alternator... it is already rated at 100 AMPS.. if you want to go to a higher rated alt its no problem.. just install a large GM case alternator.

thnx do you know if i need to use all the ground wires on the stock alt or just ground them to a chassi ground?

 

[mistaken1]

alts are tested to show while running 12v showing front batt 14.4 rear

while running shouldn't the front battery show 14.4 as well? (or something close to that)

 

[Warthog]

while running shouldn't the front battery show 14.4 as well? (or something close to that)

His front is 14.4v and rear combined 28.2v (13.8v). needed a comma in the sentence.

 

[Warthog]

thnx do you know if i need to use all the ground wires on the stock alt or just ground them to a chassi ground?

If you use a non-stock alternator on the drivers side (GEN1), you don't need a ground wire as the case will be the ground. You can remove the big ground wire or use it for additional grounding.

The other two small wires are for the diagnostic system. Just tape them up to the wiring harness in case someone wants to return the truck to stock.

 

[mistaken1]

His front is 14.4v and rear combined 28.2v (13.8v). needed a comma in the sentence.

I missed that.

 

[mangus580]

I think you are missing something important here. If you activate the plow, and the voltage is dropping like a rock - your plow pump motor could be VERY suspect.

I plowed for a long time with my 1009, and never had an issue with the stock alternator.

I would have both the pump motor and the alternator tested. Any good auto parts store should be able to test both for you.

 

[Westech]

AH I forgot about that... I just posted on a bad pump motor a week ago... if the pump is taking more then 175 AMPS its SHOT! I rebuild mine every other year (brush kit and a cleaning/lubing)

 

[wiccantoy]

WELL the alt since i have 2 was sent to the trapp rebuild who does all the alts for my fire co. hopefully that will fix it the polw pump is 96 bucks new so we shall see. if not alt is going larger

 

[Sasquatch]

Thanks for that tip on my problem Westech, but with mine it turned out not to be the motor, but both the actual gear pump and something with batteries or charging system, the batteries tested good and alt voltages test good, so looks like I'll be pulling out the alts to get them tested. Just something to keep in mind if the alt rebuild doesn't seem to help with the plow movement. Local shop should be able to check pump pressure for you.

 

[BEASTMASTER]

oh man ! " LOVE BENNY HILL"