Hey guys,

Quick question for yall.

I have as you know an 86 f150 302 4x4. Snow is comming and this is my plow truck. The alternator is definatly going in it and there is no way to replace it before the storm in my area. I do have another brand new battery in my shed and i was thinking of hooking the new one up to the truck with the old one...so id be running two batteries only while the truck was running.
Would that be ok? Would it hurt anything?

 

If you connect it in parallel it will be OK but it would be easier to just carry the spare and replace it when it goes dead. You really need to replace the alt if it is bad.

 

You'll just be adding reserve power, which is fine. On the down side you'll be killing two batteries instead of one. Please report back on how it goes. I don't think they will last long driving that plow without an alternator. You should consider three, so you have one to pick up the plow so you can drive back home.

Now that I think about it, I would imagine that the alternator is still working, but not hard enough to keep up with the demands of the plow. Is that right.

I would probably keep one in the truck, and one on a charger, and since this is income and important, purhcase a third and keep that in the back of the truck.

 

You have till at least noon on sat to replace the alternator before the snow even starts.

 

as an intellectual I would add up all the amps ur truck is using with a plow, electric, hyd, power unit, and use the Ohms Law to check and see if ur aternator and ur battery is producing the amps you need.

 

It looks like a good 9 or 10 inches so far here this morning. My son is just getting home and he can't get in the drive way, so he's already running the snow blower. All I can do is watch. The way things are going my 60 mile trip today will be canceled and the 4x4 will have to sit in the garage.