At 05:08 PM 8/20/00 -0400, you wrote:
>All this talk about alternators has got me curious... I have a '98 Kota (Gen
>III?) and on the sticker, which I saved, it says I have a stock 117 amp
>alternator. First of all, does this seem right for a stock alternator?
>Secondly, Kyle keeps talking about upgrading to a 120 amp alternator for his
>extra lights and such and I was wondering if the 117 is good enough if I want
>to add some or does 3 amps make that much of a difference?? Please, all you
>electrical guru's please respond.
I'm no electrical guru, but I don't think it'll make any difference. I
put a 3pc underdrive pulley set on my Dak, and the charging was
terrible. I took off the alternator pulley and went to the stock one, and
it was still bad. I figured I'd upgrade my alternator. I looked at the
option list for my Dak, and it said I had a 117 amp alternator. But when I
looked up the part number on the alternator itself, my FSM said it was only
90 something amps!!!! (What's up with that??? GRRRR!) Anyway, I upgraded
to a 120, and I didn't really notice much difference; it still charges
bad. (I got a REALLY small alternator pulley from John Burgan at C@C this
year (thanks, John!) which I have yet to install. I'm hoping that will
solve my charging problem.
Anyway, I guess my point is if I don't notice a difference for 30 amps,
I doubt you'd see anything from 3. I think you can get a hard core
offroading alternator that will push out over 200 amps; some offroaders use
their alternators to power welders and stuff... I'd hate to see what they
cost though! :-(
-Jon-
.--- Jon Steiger ---- jon@dakota-truck.net or stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ---.
| Affiliations: AOPA, DoD, EAA, NMA, NRA, SPA, USUA; Rec & UL Pilot - SEL |
| '92 Ram 150 4x4 V8, '96 Dakota V8, '96 Intruder 1400, '96 FireFly 447 |
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