I'm looking to get a new 145 amp alternator for my 04 Sierra 2500HD and am not sure which of them would be the best choice, Bosch, Tough One or Driveworks? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
If that's your three choices, I'd go with the Bosch since I've never heard of the other two. If there's a significant price difference, and that's usually a factor with most of us working stiffs, then I'd think about a cheaper one if the warranty is there.
If you do go with a cheaper one, I'd keep the original under the seat in case you're out in the middle of nowhere when it craps out. Just sayin'...
I spent up for a lifetime warranty Delphi.... alternators and starters I trust remy and Delphi... don't hold me to it but I think toughone is owned by remy and they're remans
I'm not sure if I need one or not but when I was plowing today my voltage went down low enough to turn off my radio and reset the clock a couple of times
No it doesn't have a second battery. I'm sure the plow was added on by the previous owner and didn't have the plow prep package. Would just adding the second battery tray, battery and the wiring take care of the issue?
Do the batteries have to be hooked up to the alternator in a certain way so as not to screw them up? I'm a laid off pipefitter so trying to keep my spending on the low end so my questions are aimed at what I can do reasonably inexpensively to make it work better
You can just add a battery and 2 cables and tie them together for the cheapest upgrade that will make the best impact. I did this this year on my atv that I plow with because I killed a brand new battery last year by running it down all the time. I took one of the Monte's batteries out and strapped it down in a battery box on the rear rack and have had no problems this year. A good idea would be to install a battery tender of some sort to recharge the batteries after plowing if this is a dedicated plow rig and would get parked with the batteries low often. Also do this on my atv.
I plow less than a dozen driveways every time it snows but that might take me a few hours each time. The battery is less than a month old and I don't want it to crap out on me from getting overworked each time like you said. So I don't have to run them in series or anything just run a whole second set of wires from the alt to the new battery then? I have a battery charger that has the settings for 25a, 10a and 2a would leaving it on 2a be fine after I got home from plowing or should I actually get a battery tender? Thanks for all the info I really appreciate it.
easiest and cheapest way to do it would be run the cables from the 2nd battery right over to the original battery, the alternator will charge them both at the same time, and if your charger says automatic then it will work just fine on the 2 amp setting.
Running in series is how you would put batteries in a flashlight, negative to positive, which adds all of the voltages together. Parallel is where you hook the positives together and the negatives to ground adding the amps together.
Ok that makes sense, it was so cold this morning that when I stopped at a stoplight my truck would idle down so low that it stopped once and every other time I had to drop it into neutral and rev it to keep it running until the truck got warmed up. I found a place where I could get a re-manufactured truck battery for $55 so I might get one of those, I have some 3 gauge wire that I can use to wire them up until I can get a higher output alternator
Well I discovered that part of the problem was that the side post bolt on the negative side had somehow worked itself loose so I'm guessing that was playing a big part in my problem. I did buy a Duralast 145 amp alternator on the way home just in case though and am debating whether to go ahead and install it anyways or not. I didn't want to spend the $200 that it cost for the alt and parts to make up more cables so we will see what happens in the next few days I guess, if it gets better then I might just leave it. The battery was stone cold dead when I came out after lunch so my father in law jumped me and I ran a few errands, leaving the truck on the whole time, then came home. I plowed my drive after I got the negative post issue cleared up and it was still dropping the voltmeter on the dash down quite a ways but the battery hadn't had much time to charge. I have a deep cell marine/rv battery out of my travel trailer that I will end up wiring in to serve as my second battery for now, well when it's not -50 windchill outside
The battery terminal bolts get worn out on these side posts. They are cheap to replace and you can get them at any auto parts store.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra Forum
1.4M posts
179.2K members
Since 2009
A forum community dedicated to Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!