My alternator is bad and i want to konw if there is a draw back to useing a 130 alternator. I think mine came stock with a 95 and the parts guy told me that he thinks im stupid for wanting the 130(very smart man by the way) but i dont want the altenator to need to be replaced when i add stuff. I already run silverstars and i want to put a light bar and other stuff on.

WHat do oyu guys think?

 

I put a 150 amp alt on a 4.0 ranger and it was fine the 4 years I drove it.I would do a 130 myself.

 

Why would he think that you are stupid for wanting to go from a stock 95 amp alternator to a 130 amp alternator? The other way around might not make sense but you are upgrading. I know that the F150's can be upgraded to higher output alternators with no other changes up to a certain point, after that some of the factory harness would need to be upgraded to a larger wire, for example, if you were going up to a 200 amp or higher alternator. I am not sure of where the threshold is at, but it is definitely higher than 95 amp draw.

Did he give a reason why he thought this upgrade was not a good idea?

 

Well i went back and went to buy on and asked a few more ?'s and i found out that the 95 and 130 were the same price..... So that solved that problem.

 

So i get home and the pulley on the 130 is smaller than the pulley on the 95.... Please dont tell me that ford put a smaller pulley on it and thats the only differance? I have the test sheet and it shows that this alternator put out 143 amps(i think thats what its measured in) at 2000 rpm's and higher.

Is this the differance.. Or is htis just something the manufacture did to raise output at idle?

 

I would say if the pulley on the new alternator has the same rib count as your current alternator, put the new one on, and adjust the tension in the belt like normal, should work fine. At worse, swap pulleys from old to new, and install. Either way, you are getting a higher output alternator.

 

Well i put it on as was and now everything is ten times better than it has been in a year or so. Hopefully that was the problem. Im guna replace the terminals on the battery also. Funny how an alternator can be half bad for so long.

 

Better only half bad than completely dead, I have been thru that 3 times with past vehicles, twice on a Honda Passport(GM alternator with "special" connector for the Isuzu harness) and once on a Buick Skylark, also a GM POS!

Glad it is working for ya, and YES, alternators can go partly bad but not fully dead and sorta work for a while. Makes diagnosing the problem a bit difficult. Dead alternators are much easier to recognize than partially dead ones.

 

Aint that the truth. this is the first one that did this to me. I had it tested three times all together and it was "PASSED" all three times. But luckly it finally went bad enough that it impacted my driving so i could add another syptom to the list. LOL

That helps.

 

The O.E. 95 amp alternator is fine if you are dead stock, but once you start adding load to the system, a higher amperate alternator is called for. I am starting to look for a higher output alternator as I am busy adding electrical add ons such as...

Off Road Lights.
CB.
Stereo Amp and speaker system.
Winch.

It all adds up, and puts a load on the system that the O.E. alternator was simply not meant to handle...

 

You could put a 500A alternator on (if it would fit) without any other changes. You wouldn't have to upgrade any wiring UNTIL you added some new loads.