That Jeep Guy XJMJ

I'm wanting to upgrade to a better Alternator, but not buying OEM brand spanking new from the parts shop, thats right i'm like many other people on here and i'm looking for the cheaper way out. With an Alt from a diff vehicle so,

what have any of you guys out there swapped out for better Amperage and what issues or dangers are there to going to a higher amperage alternator, like will it fry my wires, cook my battery, blow my fog lights??????

just basically some ideas for better alts and the side effects if known

5-90

Gotta give information to get information - which rig are you looking to upgrade?

The answer to that question is important - 1984-1986 used a Delco 12SI, 1987-1990 the Delco CS130, and 1991-2001 got the Nippondenso (90A-117A/120A rated output.)

If you've got the Delco unit, it's as easy as having a unit rewound to the output you want - Delcos are popular with custom builders, kitbuilders, industrial equipment builders, and marine jobs. Easy, no?

If you've got the ND, you're a bit more limited. You can try getting the 136A unit from a V8-equipped ZJ/WJ/WK/Durango (possibly Dakota as well,) but you'll have to modify the mounting area to make it fit - you're going to have to grind away about 1/4" of the meat between the brackets to clear the frame. Doable, but time-consuming (NB: Do not grind the frame! You'll screw up the magnetic fields that make the alternator work, and you'll get the worst case of ripple you'll ever see...)

Either way, there are outfits that do "overwound" alternators - up to around 200A. Mean Green comes to mind, as does Powermaster and Nations Auto Electric. But, they're spendy.

You can check your Yellow section to find a local shop that does rewinds for you - if you can't find anything locally, I talked the shop I've been using for a dozen years or so into doing mail-order a few years back, and people have been happy with his work. Click the link in my sig, scroll down, and click the San Jose Generator link. You'll deal with Rod directly - I don't want to middleman for him and drive prices up. He does keep banker's hours, but he's out here in CA, so that might work for you. He typically ships FedEx Ground, which is three days to anywhere domestic. (Conversely, I use Priority Post domestic and international - but my stuff fits in flat rate boxes better than his does.)

NB: You'll want to uprgade your wiring as well - the OEM wiring is "just enough" for the OEM alternator (AMC-era - 1988 and earlier - is a bit more forgiving, but not that much.) You can check the rest of my site for information on that. You can run an overwound alternator on OEM wiring for a while (since full output isn't always generated,) but you're going to want to be able to take full advantage of it - which means using larger conductors and upgrading the fuse protection. Just bear that in mind...

That Jeep Guy XJMJ

the rig is a 96 cherokee sport so u can tell me more specifics from there

5-90

That's helpful!

I know more about RENIX (1987-1990) than anything else, but your 1996 means that the ND information will apply. Note that you're also OBD-II, which means it's less tolerant of "field modifications."

This doesn't mean you can't upgrade your alternator - go right ahead and do so! The regulator circuit in the PCM can still control things handily, I've known plenty of people who have successfully upgraded their OBD-II rigs.

But, you'll be looking for the later V8 ND alternator, and you'll definitely need to grind the mount for clearance.