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105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?

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Offline San Diego Sam

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105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« on: February 06, 2010, 07:53:09 PM »
I have an '87 sammy with the stock alternator - and a spare.  I saw the upgrade kits and they don't cost that much.  Just wondering if I need to do it?  I am running 2 100 watt off road lights, a stereo, vhf radio, and the rest is stock.  I miight throw on a small winch some day -maybe not.  Do I need the upgrade or save some money?  Thanks.
« Last Edit: February 06, 2010, 07:55:08 PM by San Diego Sam »
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Offline dupont#24

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Re: 105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2010, 08:13:13 PM »
I would say yes if you put a winch on
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Offline tukko

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Re: 105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2010, 11:27:33 PM »
hi, can you tell me were you have seen it? i'm looking for something like that
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Offline dupont#24

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Re: 105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2010, 07:25:01 AM »
Roadless gear .com
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Offline San Diego Sam

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Re: 105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2010, 11:12:58 AM »
there is also a guy that sells a pretty nice kit on ebay.  type keyword suzuki samurai.
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Offline Merlin93

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Re: 105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2010, 03:38:31 AM »
Two 100W lights draw another 15A or so. The stock 35A alternator can probably supply that much additional current if you start with a fully-charged battery. But it is getting close and you should keep an eye on your battery's state-of-charge (or alternator output voltage) when/if you use the lights a lot.

A winch can easily draw 300-400A for tens of minutes while you're winching.  No alternator you can fit in a Suzuki will supply this much current, so you'll need at least one good deep-discharge battery to make up the difference. A high-output alternator will both re-charge the battery faster and reduce the battery drain while winching.

I bought my high-output alternator kit from Paul, "adventure-off-rd" on eBay. He has a well-designed upgrade kit for the CS130 alternator. He has a no-splice, foolproof alternator field connection I've not yet seen anywhere else.

Edit: Oops! Stock Samurai alternator is actually a bit higher -- 45A (early) and 50A ('90+).  Doesn't really change the conclusions though.
« Last Edit: October 04, 2012, 08:14:11 PM by Merlin93 »
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Offline Medford

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Re: 105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« Reply #6 on: September 16, 2010, 06:01:43 PM »
Merlin- I know this post is old, but can you give me the web site of the conversion you were referring to?  Are you still liking this upgrade?  Would you have done anything different?  And are you talking about a sami or trackick?
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Haptown

Re: 105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« Reply #7 on: September 16, 2010, 06:31:40 PM »
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Offline jrs1978

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Re: 105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« Reply #8 on: September 16, 2010, 07:17:02 PM »
http://xfaktor.net:8082/Projects/Suzuki/gmalt/gmalt.html

Go to this website here. You can use the stock Samurai by cutting and re welding the bracket. I did mine and it worked really good. Couple hours labor. I used a saturn alternator that puts out 105 amps. The nice thing about this is its high output so even at idle its putting somewhere in the 70 something amps.
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Offline Medford

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Re: 105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« Reply #9 on: September 16, 2010, 08:07:08 PM »
beautiful, thanks fellas.
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Offline alpineman

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Re: 105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2012, 06:59:11 AM »
Wow just checked out adventure-off-rd.com there kit with the alternator is $229 plus $50 shipping total of $279 think I will find my own parts and do it myself.
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Offline bentparts

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Re: 105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« Reply #11 on: October 05, 2012, 03:52:31 AM »
Trail Tough sells a lower bracket for like $25. You just have to modify your top bracket and choose your own alt and do the wiring yourself which is easy. I dropped in a GM 105A alt and after modifying my top bracket total cost including the reman alt was under $100. worth it.
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Offline talonxracer

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Re: 105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« Reply #12 on: October 05, 2012, 05:26:03 AM »
Absolutely worth every $ invested. The stock alternator is marginal with a totally stock vehicle. I went with the TT bracket, modified the upper bracket and a remanned 78 amp 12si alternator for 55$. It's been over a year now and not a lick of problems.
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Offline Jonny Rash

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Re: 105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« Reply #13 on: October 05, 2012, 06:10:20 AM »
I guess I must be the exception.  I've never had any problems with the stock altenators-even with using Warn 8,000lb winches.
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Offline Derek

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Re: 105 amp alternator upgrade - worth it?
« Reply #14 on: October 05, 2012, 07:40:06 AM »
I would defiantly start by upgrading the battery system first. A larger alt. is a larger load on the engine witch is marginal to begin with. There no such thing as free power if so you would be rich. If you have the reserve in the battery for the few times you winch you should be fine. Now if you pulling cable all the time then yes you need to upgrade both. A large alt. with low a low reserve bat will help but isn't the real solution. Other items that help are high output LED lights and such to lessen the draw.
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