Doc's CS144 alternator upgrade.
 

This will be added to my build thread, and mod thread, at some point. Doing this from my phone on Tapatalk, and the site on my iPhone is being stupidly slow. Thought that when people search, this would be a good way for them to see it, without having to dig through a bunch of BS.

There have been many things going around.

First, work. My new schedule blows. I've got so much stuff I need to get done, but not enough time to do it.

Second, time. Seems to get away from me all the time.

I need to get my tank done, my shocks mounted, all that jazz.

Took the truck out today, and wouldn't ya know it, the damn alternator shat the bed. Well, IDK if it really did, I probably could just clean it up, but what the hell. Didn't want to risk it going out again with the girl and baby in the car.(Read PERFECT time to do an upgrade.)

So. I upgraded.

Went to Advanced Auto and got a CS-144 from a 1995 Cadillac Deville with the heated windshield. Also bought the harness for the alternator.

The stock alternator will put out 85 Amps. The Cadillac one will put out 140.

Step 1 is to remove the stock alternator. Here's a shot of the two next to each other.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/13/ju8y6yje.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/13/umaje9e9.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/13/u7e8egur.jpg

There is a nice size difference in the two.

Here was the tricky part.

The harness I got from the store was one color. All black. The wires, plug, it all was black.

With a little research, I figured it out.

If you look on the plug, there is an S, F, L, and a P.

S is the Sense wire. This is also the thickest wire. This wire goes to the white wire on the Toyota harness.

The F wire is the field/ignition wire. This will go to the red wire on the Toyota harness.

The L wire is the lamp wire. This will go to the yellow wire on the Toyota harness.

P is the stator wire, though there isn't one. It's used to run older style tachs.

There are 4 prongs, but only three wires. Don't ask me why.

Now, you can do two different things here.

You can work in the small area I the engine compartment and try to splice the wires together.

OR, you can do what I did.

I cut the Toyota connector of the harness. :o

Then, I stripped all the wires. I mean ALL the wires. All 9.

Then, I took the CS144 harness, and attached it to the Toyota connector. I stripped the white wire further than the rest, because I had to solder the white wire on to the thick wire of the CS144 harness. Didn't take a pic of this part.

With the other two wires, I just twisted them together.

Then, I bought some weather proof butt connectors, and put them on the end of the CS144 harness. Here's what I had:

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/13/tubu9uha.jpg

Then, I brought that over to the front, and put the harness on the other side and crimped it down.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/13/ja9uvata.jpg

The only wire you NEED to connect is the yellow wire to the L wire. I just went ahead and did all three.

Now, those "weather proof" connectors are basically shrink wrap. So, the obvious comes into play here. Shrink it.

The reason for keeping the stock connector was incase I ever decide to go back to a stock alternator.

Now, when you put the alternator in, you're going to run into a space problem. Simply solution for this.

Loosen the bottom bracket bolt from the block. Here's a pic. It's a 14mm bolt. The bolt is in the socket, the big silver thing. ;)

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/13/8uve2a5y.jpg

Now that that's out of the way, the alternator will slide in easy.

Now, you need a spacer. I used three washers, and tacked them together. A pic:

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/13/4u2ajaqy.jpg

You need to do one of two things with the post connector. You can either drill it out and bend the tabs, or cut it off and put a different connector on there.

I chose to drill and bend.

After that, put the bolts in, put the tensioner back, plug it in, and you've got a upgraded alternator. More pics.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/13/ahejahyt.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/13/agu4etyg.jpg

The CS144 has a 6 rib pulley on it.

The Toyota has a 4 rib pulley.

You can see if you can replace the pulley; you'll need a pulley with a 17mm hole, the size of the bolt on the CS144.

Thanks Doc for the info. It will end up being a sticky for me if my ALT ever goes south plug for those who will ask for the ALT upgrade in the future.

why did u replace your stock with this one, did u need more power? is there a different choice in alt to get the same power output or more but the same connectors/ design as stock?

i need more power because this cold weather is killing my battery and my subs steal all the juice the alt puts out. (plus my off road lights)

EDIT
i guess i should have read the top b4 i looked at the write up.

I'm about to do this within the next week. The winch is killing my truck so a 140amp alt + 925cca battery should do.

ahh yes my next upgrade myself! thanks for the info! how much was the harness and alt?

@littlecesar:

No problem man. Any questions ask. As always.


@shooymymime:

The reason I did it was twofold.

1) The stocker shat the bed. Needed a new one.

2) This one puts out 35 more amps than a stock.

I'm running an aftermarket stereo, lights, soon to be a winch, ARB compressor, 2x10" Rockford Fosgate subs, and a power inverter. God only knows what other electrical sh!t I'm gonna have.

A CB at least.

As I said before, the stock alternator puts out 85 amps, this one puts out 140 amps.

You can go with a rebuild, but that's downtime. You can buy a higher output alternator, but those are around 400.

@BillIam :

I'm about 150 deep into this alternator. The alternator was 109 from advanced auto, BUT, because of the core charge, it came out to like 154 or something. The guy knocked it down to 135. Pretty cool of him. The harness was 10 bucks.

Very nice write up Doc. I didn't know you could do this. I was liking everything until you cut wires...I will have to do some more checking into this...

Before I knew of your mod...I was looking at a Mean Green alt. I put one of these on my diesel truck. They fit and look like OME. The wiring is all plug and play...the pulley is the same. The main reason is its an 200 amps. altanater...putting out 220 amps at 2000 RPM's (according to their web site).

2003-96 4-RUNNER 3.4L

Still going to check more into this GM mod. Mean Greens OME fit with plug and play is nice...but, the $400 price is hard to swallow.

i would recommend the big 3 mod if you're gonna go with the cs-144. i had some ground issues last week and it toasted the rectifier. i had to have the damn thing rebuilt.

s&%t i already replaced mine

2 - 55 more amps , not 35.
1 - Took a shat
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/v...6.jpg~original

Why didn't you turn the old alternator in to get your core charge back?

they make a plug that connects the CS144 to the stock harness. I'll see if I can find the link here in a little but.

I just didnt have the time to wait for it to ship. I needed to get this done.

Sue me. My math was off. :P

I dont think that really had anything to do with it. There have been a couple times where the battery was slow to start the truck, and the radio cut on and off a few times. I honestly think that the alternator was on it's way out.

It would've gone out a lot faster if it were from that day.

If not, then it was a good excuse to upgrade for the lights and the winch time.

they wouldnt take the old one back because it wasnt a CS144. Has to be an exact match for the alternator you get.

Part # W1232 Alternator Wiring Harness Adapter. converts CS130 or CS144 4 pin Plug to Toyotal Oval Style Alternator Plug

I just ran across this jumper harness that lets you leave the stock wiring 100% intact! When my alt goes, I will be going this route. 25 bucks to make this swap 100% plug and play is great!

good to know, thanks, that will make it so much easier!

Thank you sir for the link! So for about $200 you can have a safe higher out-put alternator that's plug and play. Sounds great...Not quite the amp out-put of the Mean Green...but then again, it's half the money. Besides, I believe 130 amp will meet all my power needs.

Hey Doc, I'm assuming you picked the 95' Caddy CS144 because it's the best/highest out-put alternator to get? Or ???? What's up with the CS130?? Just wondering if its cheaper or maybe it has the correct pulley size?

Thanks for all the help guys...

The CS130 is a different alt and has a lower power output. Just go with the 144 for peace of mind that others have had great results with it.