High output alternator

[RawbDidIt]

I've seen some posts about this, never seen a complete write up with part numbers, so here goes.

Been looking to do this upgrade for a while, as usual I was forced into it, had to make a couple of decisions in the interest of time. As a lot of you know and a few threads on this site will tell you, a CS-130D alternator and an AD-244 alternator will bolt in to the stock location. That's where things get murky. Some people say it bolts right in, others say you need to alter the stock mounting holes. Some threads indicate you need to use a different size belt than stock, some say you can shoehorn the same size belt on. So when my alternator died, I decided to figure this out once and for all.

Since I didn't have time to have an alternator shipped, let alone built, I skipped the call to Mechman and looked up a part from summit hoping they had a high output in stock at their Arlington location. No luck for a 1997 K1500, but for a 2001 Silverado, no problem. 225A PowerMaster in stock. Never worked with this brand before but a one year warranty should be long enough to figure out if it's any good, feel free to put your experiences below. I grabbed a new belt as well. Some threads state you need to buy the same belt that comes with the "high output alternator" option. 140A is hardly high output in my opinion, but hey. The next size up that matches the 5.7l engine is 4 inches larger. Seemed WAY too big so I stuck with stock.

The new alternator was much larger than the new one, but the holes lined right up and bolted right in. New belt fit right on, did a quick comparison before installing, it's the same size I had on there, nothing special. Fired the truck up and everything worked great. Next up, big 3 upgrade! I'm posting some videos below. I know this thread is long, but hopefully this will help somebody out.

Alternator: PowerMaster 48237
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/pwm-48237

Belt: Continental Poly-V 4060967
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cel-4060967

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[DallasTahoe]

Definitely do the big 3, I used 0 gauge for all my power and ground especially since I’m running dual batteries


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[RawbDidIt]

Yup yup. I'm doing that when I install the amp and sub(s) in a couple of months.

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[MSCustoms]

Also for clarification the stock mounting holes need to be moved and or opened up on the 88-95 engines with the alternator on the driver side. There is an aluminum bracket and steel bracket variant of those years.

 

[RawbDidIt]

Also for clarification the stock mounting holes need to be moved and or opened up on the 88-95 engines with the alternator on the driver side. There is an aluminum bracket and steel bracket variant of those years.

Ok, I couldn't find any concrete info when I looked, so I had the dremel on standby. So it's not necessary on 96, 97, and 98 classics? I thought the bolt pattern was the same for all CS-130d alternators, are there different variants for 88-95 that people should look out for? I know there's a difference in the 4 prong plug, but I thought that was the only difference between stock alternators.

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[MSCustoms]

Yes the 96-98 classics are a direct bolt on, plug may be different. The 88-95 have a different alternator and dont know the number off the top of my head. Its smaller and has a threaded mounting hole on the back side of the alternator. The aluminum bracket has 3 "ears" for the 88-95 compared to the 4 "ears" of the 96-98. You can see the bracket in my build thread.

 

[RawbDidIt]

Yes the 96-98 classics are a direct bolt on, plug may be different. The 88-95 have a different alternator and dont know the number off the top of my head. Its smaller and has a threaded mounting hole on the back side of the alternator. The aluminum bracket has 3 "ears" for the 88-95 compared to the 4 "ears" of the 96-98. You can see the bracket in my build thread.

Wish I'd known all of this beforehand. I was nervous I might screw it up. It going so easy made me even more nervous somehow lol.

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[kennythewelder]

Grate write up dude, but as mentioned you need to do the big 3 up grade. I have electric fans, a 680 watt amp, pushing 1 Sony 10, and with everything on wide open at night, the OE alt keep up, but barely. It drops to just under the 14 mark and at idle, it will fall off more. I really need to up grade the alt, but as long as I am not maxed out, the alt keeps up just fine. When I did the big 3 I added 2 more grounds. SO I have 4 grounds all to the battery. 1 from the alt case to the battery, 1 from the battery to the frame, 1 bat to engine block, and 1 bat to the truck cab. I find the extra grounds help with the electrical system as a whole.

 

[RawbDidIt]

Yeah, only reason I haven't yet is I haven't really added any loads yet. I'm getting some noisemakers in the next couple of months, I'll upgrade everything at the same time. Only reason I didn't upgrade the alternator at the same time is because the old one didn't hold out long enough. Looks like previous owner already upgraded the ground to the engine block (4ga) not sure why nothing else was upgraded, I'll add a 0ga ground to the frame, the alternator case and a 0ga power wire to the distribution block. I'd upgrade the one to the block too, but the alternator case will provide an additional ground, and 4ga really is plenty, 0ga is overkill. The amps I'm considering won't even accept anything over 4ga and that'll be the majority of the draw until I get my lights. I'll write up the big 3 upgrade along with the amp and sub(s) install.

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[kennythewelder]

I have a post on here some where about my big 3 or big 5 up grade, but I can't find it. I looked through about 40 pages of post, and it seems like the search box is useless. The ground to the body was a big improvement. Even my wipers speed up. My amp is grounded to the body as I am sure most people do, so the cab ground just gives a better ground for the amp. My amp was getting hot after a long drive. That all stopped after the up grade. I used AWG #2 welding lead, but hey I am a welder.