ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Suzuki 4x4 Forum => Topic started by: San Diego Sam on February 06, 2010, 07:53:09 PM
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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.
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I would say yes if you put a winch on
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hi, can you tell me were you have seen it? i'm looking for something like that
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Roadless gear .com
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there is also a guy that sells a pretty nice kit on ebay. type keyword suzuki samurai.
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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.
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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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click here for adventure-off-rd.com (http://stores.adventure-off-rd.com/-strse-Alternator-Conversions-cln-Suzuki-Samurai-1.3L/Categories.bok)
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http://xfaktor.net:8082/Projects/Suzuki/gmalt/gmalt.html (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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beautiful, thanks fellas.
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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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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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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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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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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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I did that with mine, I put in the new DOT approved headlights from Truck-Lites. They only draw a few amps even when on hi. I also opted to go with LED aftermarket/AUX lights from PIAA. Once again, they only draw a few amps when running.
I'm also pulling out the radio. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for music yet, but I may just run a bluetooth connection to a couple of speakers in the stock location and use my phone or tablet as a music source. I'm also going to fo through and swap out as many bulbs in the Sami as possible to LEDs. There wont be many since the bumpers I have selected come with new lights built in and they eliminate all of the stock lights.
I will add a winch some time next year, but the infrequent use of it will really not nessicitate a larger alternator, just a larger battery for reserve.
I don't have AC in mine, but the blower motor for the heater does pull some good amps on start up. I can't do much about that other than not use it. I do have plans for on-board air, but by eliminating and carefully selecting other parts, I think it's doable on the stock set up.
Rob