130 or 150 amp Alternator upgrade

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To answer an earlier question, the original 93-97 alternators and mountings are all the same.
 
Just an update to those that were interested in this conversion. First, I had informed some people that wanted to buy a bracket with the electrical connector that the electrical connectors may not be available as I had purchased the US supply of them and there were only so many. It turns out after a conversation with CDan that I bought the current US supply. Dan said there were more connectors in the pipeline from Japan so more will be available in the future. He was shipping across the country to me today so those that are waiting for their orders can gauge from that.

Oh, now I see where all those connectors were going!

-o-
 
It's great there is a cheaper solution for what I did many years ago.

I bought from Powermaster a direct replacement 170 amp which is based on a bigger case USA made ND alternator costing about $ 515 for the whole kit .

This alt came with a round to inline adapter wiring harness since the stock 80 conector didn't match the new alt.

The only mod I had to do was purchasing a new stock alt OEM dual belt pulley and machine it's shaft diameter to match the way bigger shaft of the 170 amp, ( it came with a multi V pulley which was useless for my 80).

After that I had to fiddle a bit to fit the bigger case alt on place, and setting the belts in place is not so easy as before but is doable.

Power output wire was upgraded right away to a #4 gauge as to feed my three battery isolator, and so far it has to be serviced once only to replace the diode plate since half them fried after 4 years of abuse and by the way also front and rear bearings had to be replaced.

Any how enjoy the ride, is a blast to have plenty of juice available.
 
An update based on my recent install.

First and foremost hats off to Bill & Brian for coming up with a slick little bracket that will change the whole electrical system of your 80. :cheers:

I have been sitting on Bill & Brian's bracket for a while and with the recent HG and valve job it was the perfect time to install the far more powerful Sequoia/Tundra alternator. I located a slightly used Sequoia 150A alternator that came w/ a lifetime replacement warranty from Pam's Auto of St. Cloud, MN. $100 to my door, not bad for an otherwise grossly expensive OEM alternator. I initially had the unit tested at the local parts chain store with less than stellar results. The following day I stopped by a REAL alternator/starter shop and it tested at 174A :eek: Pretty dam smokin' for a 150A rated unit. The guy also mentioned he can get smaller pulleys which will help bump up the low speed (idle) amperage. Maybe once I put a winch on it I'll go with the smaller pulley. IIRC my total investment in this install was under $190.

Here are a couple notes to keep in mind if/when you install this alternator:

  1. Pull the distributor, there will be no other easy way to get this behemoth in place. Follow the FSM on how to do so before willy-nilly pulling the dist.
  2. Have the unit tested by a competent shop, not the local chain store.
  3. Purchase a smaller pulley before you install the unit, it'll bump up the low speed output, make belt installation easier and reduce the number of four letter words used to convince the belts to get on the pulley.
  4. If you can't ascertain the mileage on the unit replace the brushes.
  5. Consider purchasing a new winch, on-board welder, 1000W sub amp, 1500W inverter or whatever paddles your canoe to take advantage of your new found electrical power.

If you can read and understand the FSM and have a timing light available this is a very easy install that can be done in an lazy afternoon. I'd give it :banana::banana: out of five.

A couple side notes:
  1. My stock 80A OEM alternator put out 88A on the bench. Not to bad for being 14 years old with 210k miles.
  2. The 4th output on the Sequoia/Tundra is used as an input to the computer to regulate idle speed. Without getting overly complicated the computer uses the frequency from the alt to determine engine idle rpm.

Below is a simplified pic with a visual of what wires go where and how to get them out of the stock 80 alt plug and into the new four place Sequoia/Tundra plug.

130A-150ASEQUOIAandTUNDRAALTERNATOR.jpg
 
An update based on my recent install.

Hope you upgraded the OEM power main output wire and the engine to ground wire to a heavier gauge wire as I did on mine because if not, you will waste a lot of amps from your new Tundra alt to heating them :bang:
 
We need some pictorial representation here man!

You know me better than that. I'm more about getting the work done than playing photographer. If you scroll up Photoman has the same pics I would have taken.

Hope you upgraded the OEM power main output wire and the engine to ground wire to a heavier gauge as I did on mine because if not, you will waste a lot of amps from your new Tundra alt to heating them :grinpimp:

I've had 4ga fine strand wire on my rig for about a year so there shouldn't be any issues there.
 
Has anyone on here actually run the outbackoffroad gear alternator? That's a cool bracket and definitely an option. However, something that is a complete bolt in wouldn't be a bad thing in my mind. Good idea on upping the wire size. I'm about to up the following three to 4 gauge: battery + to alternator + ; battery - to chassis ground ; and block ground to battery ground.
I spoke with my father who is in the alternator business, and he thinks even the stock alternator could be a little limited by the small gauge wire. The only thing I can't decide is if I want to mess with the strange fusible links.
 
Has anyone on here actually run the outbackoffroad gear alternator? That's a cool bracket and definitely an option. However, something that is a complete bolt in wouldn't be a bad thing in my mind. Good idea on upping the wire size. I'm about to up the following three to 4 gauge: battery + to alternator + ; battery - to chassis ground ; and block ground to battery ground.
I spoke with my father who is in the alternator business, and he thinks even the stock alternator could be a little limited by the small gauge wire. The only thing I can't decide is if I want to mess with the strange fusible links.

The Sequoia/Tundra alternator is completely bolt on with this bracket. There is zero fabrication required to make it work. Photoman & bjowett did all the difficult work.

I feel this setup is superior to installing some off brand alternator because you will be using an OEM Toyota part. I think we can all agree that Mr. T parts are of much higher quality than nearly all other offerings.

I don't recall the stock wire size for the alternator or starter but you bring up a good point about replacing the existing wire with larger gage wire.
 
Has anyone on here actually run the outbackoffroad gear alternator? That's a cool bracket and definitely an option. However, something that is a complete bolt in wouldn't be a bad thing in my mind. Good idea on upping the wire size. I'm about to up the following three to 4 gauge: battery + to alternator + ; battery - to chassis ground ; and block ground to battery ground.
I spoke with my father who is in the alternator business, and he thinks even the stock alternator could be a little limited by the small gauge wire. The only thing I can't decide is if I want to mess with the strange fusible links.

The weakest link will be the 2.0L fusible link and I agree 100% on what your father say. The OEM alt can provide bit more than it´s rated 80 Amp but the OEM wiring limit it.

On my setup I just wired a #4 gauge stranded wire directly from my 170 Amp alt output to my 240 amp Surepower battery isolator Alt post.

As I recall the isolator main battery out was hooked directly to the main battery with #4 gauge wire and all the OEM wiring including the 2.0L fusible link was wired then to the main battery positive post as to provide juice to vehicle.

Just a tip: In the past on our customers vehicles which had problems with slow windows movement I replaced the OEM wire that goes from the battery (after the OEM fusible link) to the in dash ignition/accesory switch with #8 gauge wire and also replaced the OEM fuse wire with a new one, and everything worked better.
 
Good point on the use of an actual Toyota part, that would sway me back to using this bracket and the Tundra alt. Good to see others agree on the thin stock wiring and that others have actually replaced it.
Oh, but if you replace the positive wires, make sure to do the grounds too. The current flows in a loop, so you will gain nothing if you have 4 gauge power, and 8 gauge grounds.
 
Good point on the use of an actual Toyota part, that would sway me back to using this bracket and the Tundra alt. Good to see others agree on the thin stock wiring and that others have actually replaced it.
Oh, but if you replace the positive wires, make sure to do the grounds too. The current flows in a loop, so you will gain nothing if you have 4 gauge power, and 8 gauge grounds.

I went further by installing a stranded #2 wire from the auxiliar battery negative post to engine block AND another #2 wire from the engine block to the main battery negative post.

I did this dual negative to engine wiring because I use two identical AC DELCO deep cycle marine batteries upfront hooked to a extra heavy duty marine switch to select which one will power-on the vehicle OEM wiring so either one could be selected as the main and the remaining upfront will be the aux.

My point of view is that the isolator is always charging both upfront batteries but also the third rear backup battery and the marine switch is used to select from which upfront battery I will demand energy to power on my cruiser standard requirement.

The winch is hooked directly to the passenger side upfront AC Delco deep cycle battery and DOESN'T go through the marine switch but IF needed, I can put the two up front batteries in parallel, giving me the advantage that the marine switch will carry only half of the current demanded by the winch avoiding any overheating of it's contacts and if that's not enough I have a diesel truck type switch to hook in parallel the passenger side front battery together with my third deep cycle battery for more than 1500 CCA juice for the winch. (Third battery negative post is also hooked to the engine block through a #2 wire)

Or I have enough reserve to power up my refrigerator and power converter for a couple of days without exausting my main battery and be able to start the cruiser .

Me set up looks complicated and redundant but in real life day to day driving it's quite simple: the charging is automated and foolproof for the 3 batteries and the power demanding situation is the one which requires driver intervention and only if the main battery is depleted. Each of the 3 batteries has a #8 wire which goes to the rear cargo area to it's own Warn 40 amp fast hook connectors. Both my Engel 60 qts refrigerator and the power converter have the same fast hook Warn 40 amp connector so I can choose on which battery they will be hooked. I fabricated a small steel box (with a long feeding #8 wire coupled to the same type of Warn quick connector) on which I installed 6 Marinco marine grade female sockets to plug any 12 volt accesory. This box works as an 12 volt extension which I can put inside my roof tent and source 12 volts from any of the 3 batteries on which I previously hooket it.

IMHO there are lower chances of a electrical o mechanical failure of my 3 battery isolator and marine & truck switch combo versus any other setup I have seen.

I know I will be flamed by the Hellroar / solenoid fans but in 5 years of abuse and demand the only thing I replaced so far were the 170 amp alternator rectifier plates and it's front and rear bearings but keep in mind is the same Denso big case alternator used in the Tundra but massaged by the Powermaster people. I have no idea if they just sourced the alternator from Denso and rebadget it or they replaced the stock ND stator and rotor for higher capacity insides but that's the only decent alt I could found in the market which I liked when I replaced my stock 80 amp alt several years ago. It's great that now we can source in the junkyards the Tundra alternator and adapt them to our cruisers saving a lot of money versus what I had to spend when I did my upgrade

I agree that there are better types of diodes used now, which has less voltage drop that the ones on my Surepower isolator which would be a reason to replace the isolator for something better but so far my setup is doing great.
 
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There is now another option for those considering this modification. When I spoke to Cruiserdan last week he said that Toyota just came out with a reman 150 amp alternator. He said pricing is about $100.00 more for the 150 amp reman as opposed to the stock 80 amp reman iirc.

Bill
 
Correct.

Mr T has just released a reman 150 amp.

The Stocker lists for $317.38 exchange and the mud cost is $238.03 exchange.
The 150 amp lists for $473.97 exchange and mud cost is $355.48 exchange.

Not at all cheap but certainly better than the 700 bucks a new one costs.
 
There is now another option for those considering this modification. When I spoke to Cruiserdan last week he said that Toyota just came out with a reman 150 amp alternator. He said pricing is about $100.00 more for the 150 amp reman as opposed to the stock 80 amp reman iirc.

Bill

If this reman 150 amp use the same case size as the OEM 80 amp IMHO I would not recomend it, It can't disipate the heat as well as the larger case no matter how much you increase the gauge of the wire used on the winding of the rotor, stator and higher capacity rectifiers.

The integrated voltage regulator senses the case temp and once it detect a too high temperature, it will limit the amount of current flowing to the rotor winding which will reduce the magnetic induction to the stator and of course reduce the amps provided by the alt to protect it.

Bench test would show 150 amp but in the real life, once mounted on a hot engine output will go down.

This is one of this cases were size matter:grinpimp:

But if the replacement alt has the bigger case, is a direct replacement without requiring any bracket or plug adapter, then I am game :)
 
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The 150 is a Sequoia alternator. It is a bigger case and does require Bill's bracket.
 

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