HUGE KUDO'S to OD Iron

[wallew]

I placed an order with OD Iron for two alternators for my M1009.

In a day or less he boxed them up and shipped them out via UPS. That was a week before the FL rally that OD Iron hosted.

I did not know that OD Iron hosted the event, but I did know Mike had gone to the rally.

ANYWAY, the box was supposed to show up the Wednesday before the FL rally. It did not show up. So Mike offered to interrupt his having 'fun' at the rally to find out what had happened. I told him to enjoy his weekend and do a trace on the following Monday.

He just boxed up TWO MORE alternators and shipped them out the first of the following week. I got them in less than a week. He has taken on the task of getting UPS to tell him what happened. I wish him luck.

Mike went OUT OF HIS WAY to handle a UPS shipping screw up.

This is customer service at it's finest. And the two alternators look EXCELLENT. I can't wait to put them on.

Yah, yah it figures we had perfect weather for three days. Then the day after my two alts arrived, the wind has kicked up above 20 mph and the temp has dropped for the past two days. We might even get snow tomorrow. I don't have a garage, only a carport, so I need good weather to work on my truck.

THX MIKE AND I LOOK FORWARD TO DOING MORE BUSINESS WITH OD IRON!

jim

 

[Boatcarpenter]

You know Jim, we LOVE pics on this forum
BC

 

[wallew]

Yah, yah.

And when the wind dies down and the temp goes above 50 degrees, I WILL INSTALL THESE PARTS and you WILL get pix.

Unless you need pix of a rebuilt alternator in a box? I can give you that one.

 

[wallew]

OK, with a break in the weather, I finally got the opportunity to install both new alternators. The nice thing is I now have two new (non squealing) alternators and they work great.

My Power Steering guy gave my system the once over and said it looked good, except maybe one of the pressure lines does look a better worn and should be replace. Given I told him to replace ALL of it, he said there was no reason to do that. So I told him I'd bring it back for the new power steering hose and the power steering fluid cooler he's going to install onto the radiator to keep the power steering/power brakes fluid much cooler, especially when I'm running up and down in the mountains.

So, here's the pix I promised. Not the best pix, but gives you an idea. Very EASY removal and replacement install. Plus two new belts. And that's one project down and several projects to go. Water pump/radiator, power steering/power brakes, transmission... you know, the normal stuff needed.

It's on a 1986 M1009 with 63k miles on it.

First three pix are of the passengers side alt, the last two are drivers side alt. I now have two broken alts that I will have rebuilt. Never hurts to have two spares sitting on the shelf waiting for the next problem to occur. Plus I've decided to only collect CUCV style vehicles, so almost all of the parts are interchangeable. Always a good thing.


http://www.steelsoldiers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=115744&stc=1&d=1237931657

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=115745&stc=1&d=1237931657

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=115746&stc=1&d=1237931657

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=115747&stc=1&d=1237931657

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=115748&stc=1&d=1237931657

 

[pevrs114]

Don't worry about the cold weather! Work on your truck anyway!

 

[wallew]

Well, I'm having electrical problems since I installed the two new alternators.

My batteries died after since two weeks of intalling them.

All I did was swap wires out.

But both batteries have died. Strangely enough, sitting idle without trying to start the truck, they show 14v.

When I JUMPSTART the truck with my charger, they STILL show 14v.

So I don't know WHERE to go next.

I don't even know where to start. Any suggestions?

 

[Desert Deuce]

Jim, try cleaning all the connections at the junction block on the firewall - driver side. I've had the same thing happen to mine and after much trouble shooting found my problem there. Just a suggestion.

 

[cranetruck]

Jim, don't blame the alternators, check the specific gravity of batteries, they may not be able to take a charge.

 

[wallew]

Good suggestions both for sure.

The batteries are less than two years old and are the U6TL's. I purchased them and installed them myself. Water is at the correct levels.

All the battery cables were replaced last summer by me. At which time I cleaned EVERYTHING up, including the junction block.

Once it warms up (again - currrently below freezing), I intend to remove the batteries, check ALL the cable connections including the junction block (though to be honest, it looks as clean as it did last summer) and then pull the alternators and see if I have a corroded connection.

I kinda doubt the alternators, but I can have them tested after I pull them off as well.

The funny part is that once I installed them, I participated in the St. Paddy's day parade here in Denver. NOT ONE PROBLEM.

This is just absolutely the oddest electrical problem I've ever had. GO FIGURE.

I guess one of the wires to the alternators could be bad or corroded. But it seemed to me everything worked great. And then something just failed on Friday and drained the batteries. Yet it started up great Friday morning. Then I went to the dog park and after letting my animals have their fun, nothing. I've got NO electrical drain on the batteries, except the electric fuel pump that was installed before I bought it. No radio, no lights were on, no windshield wipers running, no heater. NOTHING. And the truck started right up and then the batteries were dead after driving about twenty miles, mainly freeway driving.

A jump got me home.

AND OF COURSE, MY BATTERY CHARGER CRAPPED OUT AFTER I JUMP STARTED IT ONCE.

Is 14v (during charging) a 'normal' voltage? I've read several things and 14v seems 'normal' for a battery just 'sitting' in the truck.

OH, the truck has been 'changed over' to 12v. But the only differences I see are the starter is 12v and the cables are not in series (parallel? - I always get confused about the terminology). Everything else appears to be normal. Except the NATO plug cables have been removed - I assume to keep someone from trying to conect a 12v truck to a 24v truck or vice versa.

EVENTUALLY, I'll put it back to the correct configuration. But as with most here, money is tight and I have to do all my work myself. So until I can afford a 24v starter (from OD Iron, of course) and then get a series battery cable, then it will be back to normal. But that's later this year. RIGHT NOW, I got no idea.

Any help will be appreciated and I WILL report back once I've done all the suggestions made above.

 

[wallew]

I've got both batteries out. They are both showing 'low charge' so they are currently being slow charged. BUT even with the 75 amp 'start' feature the sucker will barely turn over. I hooked a battery tester and it shows 'ok' until I hit the 'load button' and then it drops to about 10 volts which is DEFINITELY NOT A GOOD SIGN.

I'll be pulling the alternators out next. Then take them over to the local NAPA store and have them checked. But this is extremely weird. Everything worked GREAT and then NADA. It just doesn't make any sense.

So there is SOMETHING WRONG.

What else can I look at besides batteries and alternator?

This truck ran great, the batteries were working perfectly until after I put in the two new alternators from OD Iron. Then the batteries die. WHY would the batteries be dead if the alternators were working properly? It makes no sense.

 

[gimpyrobb]

ID 10 T error? J/K, have you tried another set of batterys just in case? I have heard mixed reviews of how long the 6tls last. Some don't even get 2 years.

 

[1stDeuce]

Wait, you converted to 12V... and you're still running two alternators... I suppose it's possible, but they're going to fight some over which one is doing the charging... You really only need one to keep up with most CUCV loading... Either way 13.7-14.3 V is normal charging voltage, and it sounds like you're getting that.

As for the batts, if one has a cell go dead, it'll take them both out when they're wired in parallel for 12V. Charge them both on low for a day, then load test them both individually. One will probably test good, and one bad... My buddy has a battery charger with "Desulfate" mode that I've used a few times now with good results on batterys that show good voltage w/o load, but show low voltage right away when you add load.

Since sunshine is abundant in CO, I'd get a solargizer on there too. The 6TL's have a bad reputation, but any battery that doesn't get used much is prone to failure if it is exposed to some draw... Sidding dead for even short periods of time kills batteries... I put a solargizer on my deuce this winter, and the batteries went from slowing after about 10 seconds of crank time to more than 30 seconds of cranking w/o slowing... (WMO-diesel mix not so good for winter starting, even with the flame heater, which is also grumpy...)

Good luck!
C

 

[wallew]

I hate to admit it, but my 'low battery' issue was because my P/S guy forgot to plug in the dual plug (black/red wires) on Alt 1 when he checked my P/S system.

Hey, it happens. Along with all the suggestions here, and similar suggestions on another thread I started, I got it all worked out.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/cucv/35639-everything-working-great-then.html#post392527

Thanks for all the great advice. I'm now working great. In the interim, I also swapped BACK to 24v and that also helped a lot.

Now all I gotta do is address the 'hacked' wiring harness that the county sheriff guys did. I'm pretty sure I can fix that problem myself.

Thx guys.

 

[reloader64]

Wallew, don't feel too bad. I did some alternator work on a civilian vehicle many years ago, and the battery kept going dead. I finally realized that when I put the alternator back together, I had neglected to remove the pin that was holding the brushes out of the way during reassembly. Brushes not making contact=no charge.

Scott