This is one of the best upgrades I have seen in a while! Thanks for the great detail and photos, I am going to add this upgrade soon!

 

Great info!!

 

terrific upgrade and CUDOS to Jim Lane for his efforts here.. I am going to do this upgrade soon!

 

That's the bomb.com!!!!!

 

WOW, what a detailed install,nice......how many houses does it power during an outage?

 

Not sure just how many houses I could power but I have an 3Kw. inverter in the back of the truck powered from my 8-D deep cycle battery and one evening I powered up 6 work lights with 200 feet of extension cords and we painted the entire inside of my son and wifes 2-story house from about 8:00 P.M. somewhere around 2:00 A.M. I had to start the truck and let it idle for about 30 minuets to recharge the battery for the rest of the night and this ran my lights until the sun came up.

Using my 30’ #2-gauge jumper cables I have started probably a half dozen Class-A motor coaches with dead batteries that nobody else was able to start with jumper cables and battery chargers, they were all 330-Cat pushers. The trick is using all of my batteries as a buffer for my alternator.

There is a system for emergency vehicles that use dual 270-amp or dual 340-amp alternators for a combined 540-amps and 680-amps if you have the need for just a bit more power.

If all of the backup UPS systems fail at my house for my 5 computers, DVR computer, 2 stand alone DVR systems and 13 cameras I could run a cord from my truck inverter and recharge all of the batteries and stay online.

I have a 3-killowatt Fortress UPS system with 136-amperes of external batteries with another 68-amperes of additional external batteries I can connect with Anderson connectors.
By managing loads my backup system it has a runtime of hours when the grid goes down.

Jim

 

I finally flew in on it and installed one of my many Leece-Nevilles on my engine.

I searched high and low for a proper 3/8-ID sleeve to make the 2-inch spacer that goes on the bottom bolt, to no avail.

The neat one pictured along with a part-number I was told by three different parts-stores was no longer available.


I used a 7/16" coupler-nut instead.

The 7/16 threads just would not clear the un-threaded portion of the 3/8 bolt, so I ran a 3/8 drill-bit through it and cured that problem.

The 7/16 coupling-nut and three 5/16 flat-washers measured just a hair under two-inches.

Standard 5/16 washers are a precise fit on 3/8 bolts.


I put one washer at one end of the coupling-nut and two washers at the opposite end.


This worked out fine and does the intended job as well as a sleeve.

 

I sort of gambled on the belt that I was already using on my converted Ford 1G alternator being a good working fit on the Leece-Neville.


Since my Ford A/C is located above the injector-pump and is V-belt driven, I use a serpentine belt to drive everything else that is longer than the recommended Dodge-specific non-A/C belt.


I know some of you wanted to know what belt they could carry that would work with the Leece-Neville in a non-A/C application.

The belt I am using is a Gates 080670 and it fits the Leece-Neville equipped pulley system in non-A/C configuration perfectly.


GATES 080670

 

I found that the Leece-Neville external fan plate gizmo would not clear the belt tensioner once the alternator was bolted in place.

To better tell what was going on, I did not install the fan and pulley until the alternator was mounted.

I removed the tensioner from the engine = one bolt = 13MM socket.

I put the tensioner in a vice and removed quite a bit with a 4-1/2" angle-grinder.

I had to repeat this the third time before I had enough clearance for the fan to clear = probably 3/32" of material removed.

The problem area is mostly the back half of the top surface.

I can't see that the amount of material I removed will weaken or in any way otherwise affect the operation of the tensioner.


I intend to buy a couple spare tensioners and clearance grind them prior to putting them in my emergency kit; better to have one ground and ready, than to discover that a non-altered one is not going to work.

In a bad enough pinch, I guess one could remove the fan and replace it's thickness with a stack of washers and just run fan-less until getting somewhere where things can be put to rights.

 

Any one have any recomendations for a good aftermarket voltage regulator for this setup? I'm running odyssey batteries, and they recomend 14.2-14.8 volts.

 

Hey Jim, I'm wanting to upgrade my factory '89 truck and alternator to use the heavier 2 gauge wiring. How would I go about doing that with the plastic block attached to the back of the alternator?

Here is a bit of my background - I recently replaced the contacts and plunger in my starter with the kit from Larry B's because of slow cranking. I also bought a new 1000 CCA Group 31 Deka battery. I had vastly improved cranking speed for the first couple of days. Then, today, I noticed it is not doing as well as it was. I have the battery charging now. I am concerned that my alternator cannot keep up to charging my battery.

 

Do not worry about the wires in the plastic block, remove it and install your new cables directly to the studs on the rear of the alternator, you can also make a new 2 wire harness for the regulator.

The regulator plug should be available at your local auto parts.

Connect the new 2-gauge wires directly to your battery through at least a 160-amp fuse at the battery terminal,

Don't forget to also do the alternator ground cable, it is equally as important.

The old alternator harness can be disconnected near the fender and stored away for when you sell the truck.

Jim

 

Thanks very much, Jim.

 

Have a question about the coolant elbow behind the alternator. Could the fitting that the hose slips onto be spun out of the block and replaced with a street-L, then a nipple be run in the proper direction to a hose barb fitting for the rubber line?

 

It should not be a problem, the factory parts screw right out. I might be careful about keeping all of the tubing near the factory size though.