My Plow Truck

[Husker6.5]

I've also had good results from Harbor Freight's unit.

 

[ak diesel driver]

So I thought it was time to give the plow truck a little love. The plow was getting kinda loose and when I pulled it apart I discovered the center pivot pin area was pretty shot. The pin evidently is hardened so it didn't have much wear but the hole it went through was pretty loose. What was odd to me was the hole was only worn on the top side. Even the solid 3" piece at the end of the A frame was really sloppy at the top and fine at the bottom. I also discovered that the steel at the top that is welded to the plow was bent and half broke loose.
So I made a 1/4" thick washer and welded that on top of the oblong hole. Then bent things back and rewelded it.
Then I built a 1" center for my 1 3/4" holesaw and cut out the solid piece at the end of the A frame out. Made a new one on the lathe and welded it in
Then I discovered several cracks in the frame work of the plow veed them out and welded them up.
I never have been satisfied with the voltage gauge reading and my buddy with a 93 said he put a 4 gauge wire from his battery directly to the buss bar on the firewall and said it made a big difference, so I'm trying that out as well.

 

[ak diesel driver]

Used my crimper for the first time on the end of the battery cable, worked pretty good

 

[Husker6.5]

Yeah, that Positive wire on my 94 really had me scratching my head when I had to do the "emergency" starter cable transplant to my 98 when the starter lug snapped in half while installing the new starter to replace the dead one on my 98 right before the January snowstorm hit a few years back. It was like a 10 gauge wire that ran down the loom to the starter with the starter cable, then exited the loom, ran over to the firewall, then up to the Buss Bar. What a screwy routing! Especially for that long of a run/light gauge of wire! Like your solution, something that could/should have been done from the factory!

 

[DieselSlug]

How is the gauge now that you have had a little time with the 4 gauge wire? I always had this issue in my old plow truck, thing swung all over. Funny part was the plow was completely hydraulic so shouldn't have had much of an impact as it was old school Fisher belt driven. Truck always started so it had to be charging decent.

 

[ak diesel driver]

Haven't used it much since I did that mod but it seemed better.

 

[ak diesel driver]

So looking for some suggestions here. I put on a new powermaster starter and ever since I did it charges really well when cold. But as everything warms up the voltage drops lower and lower and you can see it in the lights. Called powermaster and they weren't very helpful and basically said send it back and they would fix it (out of warranty). To me it acts like the regulator isn't working right, the tech said it's either on or off and can't do low output. Thoughts?

 

[Will L.]

So looking for some suggestions here. I put on a new powermaster starter and ever since I did it charges really well when cold. But as everything warms up the voltage drops lower and lower and you can see it in the lights. Called powermaster and they weren't very helpful and basically said send it back and they would fix it (out of warranty). To me it acts like the regulator isn't working right, the tech said it's either on or off and can't do low output. Thoughts?

Powermaster STARTER or ALTERNATOR?

If starter and it is affecting the charging- you have abad connection somewhere.

If alternator, I would still begin with removing/ cleaning. I have seen regulators go wonky and sometimes work normal then charge a couple volts low or like my current ac delco alternator- it randomly jumps to 16 or 16.5 range. So that obviously isn’t going back on as is.

Remember clean all the battery cable ends- not just alternator ones, Ground to engine and body. Positive and negative.

There is the possibility you have something intermittently shorting out and consuming the power.

 

[MrMarty51]

Take the alternator in for testing, next time You get to the facilities with the proper equipment to do so.
Keep in mind that the brushes and regulator can be replaced.
An amp clamp on a multimeter might also tell a lot while cranking and while the system is charging.

 

[ak diesel driver]

Yes alternator. Been like this since I installed it. Trying to remember if this alternator has to be desoldered to split it open to get to the regulator, I think it does. Worst part of getting it tested is I know the initial test will be fine as it charges great cold. Doesn't someone make a regulator that keeps the voltage a tad bit higher than stock? Seems like I remember one but it might just be my old timers kicking in

 

[Will L.]

They can all be set to start charging at lower rpm- but it can max out the regulator easier so not many manufacturers will do it. Powermaster is one that will, at least they used to.

I’m not sure who else- I haven’t looked for that type stuff for years.

 

[ak diesel driver]

So I did some research and found that the regulator can be had in 14.6, 14.7, and 14.8.
So lately the circuit breaker I put on was tripping alot, so I eliminated it. That seems to have been the charging in issue. Ran it for about 45 minutes everything good and warm and the voltage stayed right up where it should be. I'll know for sure next time I plow.

 

[jrsavoie]

So I did some research and found that the regulator can be had in 14.6, 14.7, and 14.8.
So lately the circuit breaker I put on was tripping alot, so I eliminated it. That seems to have been the charging in issue. Ran it for about 45 minutes everything good and warm and the voltage stayed right up where it should be. I'll know for sure next time I plow.

I had some bad circuit breakers also. I thought I was buying quality, turned out to be crap.

 

[Husker6.5]

The thing about circuit breakers is that if a breaker has tripped several times it will have a tendency to trip even more frquently at amperage loads lower than its rated load, especially true with magnetic breakers.

 

[MrMarty51]

I have not put a multimeter to the charging system on My truck to see what voltage it is charging at.
When I screwed up when I drove through very thick fog the 150 miles to the cabin, realized that evening I had left on the headlamps for about 5 hours after I got there. Next morning used the little 1 KW HF generator plant to charge the batteries, several days later driving home I was quite concerned, the dash gauge was hanging below the 14 volt mark.
By the time I got home the gauge was back above 14 volts where it normally runs.
Guess one of these days when I have a reason to start the truck, I will give the CS a test with the multimeter and see exactly what voltage it really is charging at.
Working for the DOT. Every other level 2 PM we were requirsd to remove the alternator from tie wehicle and dismantle it, replace any component that was showing signs of failure.
That meant desoldering the windings and after getting the cases split, grinding away the molded over portion of the aluminum case that holds in the front bearing and checking the bearing for roughness.
I aint going to get into an argument about how to check bearings so anyone with a doubt can do their own expirements.
Take a new bearing from the box, open the jaws of a vice wide enough to accept the bearings outer diameter of the race. Put a very slight amount of pressure on the outer race, squeezing it inwards towards the center race. Rotate the center race, nice and smooth.
Now take a used bearing, even kne with a lot of miles on it, do the same, if that bearing is good the inner race will rotate nice and smooth like the new bearingg, if that bearing has any mind of rough wear, it will hang and catch as the inner race is rotated, even if it feels smooth in the hand.
There was an old timer owned an electrical shop showed me that process and I have used it for most of My mechanical career, never failed me yet.

 

[ak diesel driver]

After about 3 hour of hard plowing